McNeese State can clinch the Southland Conference regular-season title this weekend with any combination of two wins over Houston Christian or losses by Southeastern Louisiana, but head coach James Landreneau said seeing his team play at a championship level is a top priority heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

The Cowgirls (38-14, 18-3 SLC) will play a three-game series at HCU (20-28, 9-12) beginning today. McNeese went 4-2 last week, losing the first two games at Southeastern before winning the finale, then sweeping a home series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

“As a program, you always want to put yourself in position to control your own destiny and we did.” Landreneau said. “I talked to the kids about playing championship softball at the end of the season and going into the conference tournament. It’s the same process for us, one pitch at a time and one game at a time. We want to clean up some things and play better than we have these last six games. I’d like to see us play cleaner and more aggressive.”

Landreneau said the chance to clinch the conference title could be detrimental if it causes the team to lose concentration.

“The distraction is if you worry about those things, sometimes you lose focus on things you can control — making sure you play clean softball, taking care of the ball and pitching it well,” he said. “The biggest thing is not what we can accomplish, but being prepared to accomplish them. The ability to handle those things is what makes you a championship team. I think our team is ready to play. They’ve taken ownership of some things we need to do better.”

HCU enters on a five-game losing streak. The Huskies were swept by Nicholls State last weekend, with two of the losses coming by a single run in extra-inning games.

“They pitch it well, play fundamentally sound and have been scrappy all year long,” Landreneau said of the Huskies. “They play really well at their place and we know we will have our work cut out for us. The top of their order swings it pretty well. They like to put people in motion and are aggressive on the basepaths. They have depth with five arms that have good innings. They are never out of the fight and play really hard.”

Lyndie Swanson leads the HCU pitching staff. She is 5-3 in conference games with a 2.33 ERA. A.B. Garcia (.442) and Avery Drake (.418) lead the offense.

Alayis Seneca leads the Cowgirls with a .419 batting average in conference games. Crislyne Moreno had two home runs and five runs batted in last week. Pitchers Whitney Tate (14-4, 1.57 ERA) and Ashley Vallejo (15-8, 2.37) are a combined 15-2 in Southland games.

SLC Softball

Team Overall SLC

x-McNeese St. 38-14 18-3

x-SE Louisiana 41-12 16-5

x-Nicholls St. 27-22 13-11

Northwestern St. 24-22 10-11

Texas A&M-CC 21-21 9-12

Houston Christian 20-28 9-12

Lamar 17-32 9-12

Incarnate Word 15-28-1 7-14

Texas A&M-Commerce 9-36 5-16

x-clinched tournament berth