By Pam LaFosse
Assistant Sports Communications Director
Photo courtesy of McNeese Athletics
Samantha Mundine’s bases loaded walk in the eighth inning lifted McNeese to a 5-4 win over East Texas A&M Thursday afternoon on Day 1 of the Southland Conference Softball Tournament-Lake Charles Bracket.
The Cowgirls’ scheduled Friday game against No. 4 seed Incarnate Word was still in a weather delay as of the time of publication. UIW defeated Lamar 4-0 in the evening game on Thursday.
McNeese, (38-18) and the regular season conference champion, trailed 2-0 after the second inning following Darby Hickey’s first home run of the season, a two-run shot over the left field wall that gave East Texas A&M (10-41) the early lead.
On inning later, Jada Muñoz’s three-run blast gave the Cowgirls a 3-2 lead. The long ball is Muñoz’s 15th of the season. A sacrifice fly in the fourth inning by Kassidy Chance put the Cowgirls up 2-0. McNeese had a chance to add more runs in the inning but left the bases loaded.
But the Lions, who led the SLC in homeruns weren’t done showing their power hitting. Aaliyah Wilcox evened the game at four runs apiece with a two-run homerun in the sixth inning.
In the seventh inning, pinch runner Adriana Mireles stood on second base with one out and representing the game winning run. Reese Reyna double to left and Mireles attempted to score from second but was thrown out at home. Head coach James Landreneau challenged an obstruction call at the plate but the call was upheld sending the game into extra innings.
Chance led the eighth inning off with a single then stole second. Nyja Fontenot drew a walk and Muñoz reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Mundine patiently took four straight balls that brought home Chance home for the game winning run to end the game.
McNeese outhit the Lions 8-5 and was led by two hits apiece from Chance and Mundine.
In the circle, Kadence Williams allowed four runs on five hits with three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings before Ryan Schexnayder replace her in the sixth. Schexnayder tossed 2 1/3 hitless innings and struck out three batters to pick up the win in relief and improved to 7-1 on the season.
