Statement win: Cowgirls end LSU stranglehold

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Ashley Vallejo found her groove after a rough start to lead McNeese State to a 4-3 win over No. 15 LSU in front of a record crowd Tuesday night at Cowgirl Diamond.

McNeese (33-12) scored the winning run in the sixth inning when Chloe Gomez led off with an infield single and went to second on an error. After initially being ruled out at third on a grounder, the call was overturned.

Gomez then scored on a wild pitch to extend the Cowgirls’ winning steak to seven games and ending a 13-game losing streak to LSU, which beat McNeese 6-2 on March 21 in Baton Rouge.

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Vallejo (13-7) shut out LSU over the final six innings after giving up three runs in the first inning. She has won her last nine decisions and accounted for six of McNeese’s last seven victories.

The Tigers (34-11), who have lost four of their last five, loaded the bases with one out on a single and two walks. Karli Petty, Raeleen Gutierrez and Taylor Pleasants each hit RBI singles. Vallejo escaped further damage with a pop-up and grounder to end the inning with the bases loaded.

“I was being too picky with my pitches, trying to throw it to one spot instead of just throwing my best stuff and trusting the defense behind me,” Vallejo said of the first inning.

“After that I just attacked the strike zone and let them take care of it.”

The Cowgirls answered with three runs in the third inning. Brooke Otto led off with a walk and scored on a two-run home run to left by Emily Phillips. Alayis Seneca reached on an infield single and scored on an error to tie the score at 3-3.

McNeese loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning on singles by Otto and Phillips and an Erin Ardoin walk. Tigers relief pitcher Sydney Berzon (12-5) escaped by forcing an out at the plate on a grounder, then getting a strikeout and pop-up to end the inning.

Attendance was 1,448, breaking the previous Cowgirls record of 1,288. The win was the first over LSU since 2014 and the first over the Tigers in Lake Charles since 2009.

“Nights like tonight can help grow the program on a national level,” McNeese head coach James Landreneau said. “I hope the crowd realizes how much we appreciate them coming out. I hope they remain supportive the rest of the year.”

McNeese didn’t commit an error while LSU had three resulting in two unearned runs.

“We just played hard and were able to take advantage of some of the miscues they had,” Landreneau said. “I’m happy for the kids. They work hard and play hard. After the first inning and how that unfolded you wondered what’s going to happen the rest — are we going to stay the course? As a coach watching the maturity of them was rewarding.”

McNeese hosts onetime Southland Conference member Texas-Arlington at 6 p.m. today.