Cowgirls sweep DH, series from Lamar, pitchers Tate, Vallejo dominate for second straight SLC sweep

Warren Arceneaux

A dominant performance from freshman pitcher Ashley Vallejo led McNeese State to a 2-1 win over Lamar in the second game of a doubleheader, giving the Cowgirls a sweep of the Southland Conference series.

McNeese (17-19, 8-4 SLC) has won its last six conference games.

Vallejo allowed two hits in 62⁄3 innings pitched while striking out seven. Saleen Flores earned a save, striking out the lone batter she faced to end the game with a Lamar (4-30, 0-12) runner on second base.

“Ashley pitched well; she got into the strike zone well, and once she got in she was able to change planes really well and kept them off balance, got them swinging at pitches out of the zone,” said Cowgirls head coach James Landreneau.

Lamar took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run by Nicolette Ramirez in the fourth inning. McNeese answered with two runs in the fifth. Alayis Seneca, Tayler Strother and Jil Poullard led off the inning with three consecutive singles. Seneca scored on Poullard’s hit and Strother scored on a Cory McCrary sacrifice fly.

Landreneau said the Cowgirls were too lax at the plate after getting 10 hits in the first game Saturday.

“I don’t think we moved on from the first game today very well,” he said. “We came in distracted a little bit, gave away some at-bats early.

“We were very patient the first game, were able to hit some balls hard in the gap; we had four or five doubles. The second game, we had some timid swings. (Lamar pitcher Shelby Mixon) threw a lot of off-speed pitches, got us to slow our bats down and forced a lot of weak contact from us.”

Game 1

McNeese 9

Lamar 0, 5 inns.

Whitney Tate tossed a one-hitter and the Cowgirls scored three runs in each of the last three innings.

Pinch hitter Amy Reed hit a double to the right-center field wall to score two runs to invoke the mercy rule in the bottom of the fifth.

Tate struck out five. Lamar’s lone hit came on an infield single by Audry Fleming to lead off the third inning.

“She was really aggressive in the strike zone,” Landreneau said of Tate. “She invited contact well, went in and out with them. When she gets ahead in counts, she is a hard pitcher to square up. That was the difference today.”

Seneca had two hits and two runs for McNeese. Chloe Gomez, Kaylee Lopez, Haylee Brinlee and Strother each had an RBI double for McNeese.

SportsPlus

McNeese Sports

Record half lifts Cowgirls

Local News

Tsunami inspires life-saving training

Local News

Westlake fire, police departments get $40,000 each for new equipment

Crime

11/7: Calcasieu Parish Sheriff announces arrest list

Local News

Biden guarantees a ‘peaceful transfer of power,’ House control hangs in the balance

Local News

Hurricane Rafael taking a turn away from US

Local News

Landry: Tax changes needed to fuel population growth, encourage families to stay

Crime

11/6: Calcasieu Parish Sheriff announces arrest list

Local News

Reinvestment in Mid-City neighborhood begins

Local News

Avenue of Flags returns a day ahead

McNeese Sports

Cowgirls want to keep building

McNeese Sports

Cowboys looking to rebound…literally

Local News

APPJ fighting Coushatta land trust acquisitions

Local News

Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

McNeese Sports

Leak heats up Cowboy defense

Local News

Louisiana breaks multiple election records

Local News

Trump wins White House in political comeback rooted in appeals to frustrated voters

Jim Beam

Jim Beam column: Gerstner Field remembered

Local News

Trump wins Georgia, moving closer to reclaiming White House

Local News

Beauregard, Vernon voters favor Trump

Local News

GOP reclaims Senate majority

Local News

Republican Higgins wins re-election bid for US House

Local News

Bowers elected newest member of Calcasieu Police Jury

Local News

Early election takeaways: Trump weakens Democrats’ coalition