CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- The Lamar Lady Cardinals were two outs away from a doubleheader sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but had to settle for a split in Southland Conference softball action Friday.

Lamar posted a 3-2 win in the first game, but dropped a 6-5 decision in the nightcap as the Islanders got a three-run walk-off home run from Brittney Morse with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

"We need to understand we have to score more runs," said Lamar coach Holly Bruder, who saw her team strand eight runners in each game. "We can't be satisfied to just have the lead."

Brynn Baca went 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the opener, while Casey Cromwell hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh to give Lamar a 3-1 lead. Laura Napoli scattered five hits in a complete-game victory.

"Brynn came up big for us," Bruder said. "Laura pitched well in that first game."

Stephanie Meeuwsen had two hits for Lamar in the second game. Cromwell added one hit as she extended her hitting streak to six games and her streak of reaching base safely to 15 games.

Napoli (14-11) took the loss in relief, allowing three hits and three runs, two earned, in 2 /13 innings.

Lamar first baseman Marissa LeJune set a school record by recording 16 putouts in the first game.

With the split, Lamar (20-19 overall, 11-6 Southland) remained in fifth place in the conference. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (13-23-1, 8-9) is in seventh place, three games behind Lamar. Nicholls, which was at Incarnate Word for a doubleheader, is in sixth place. The top six teams qualify for next month's Southland Conference Tournament at Northwestern State.

Lamar wraps up the series with the Islanders with a single game at noon Saturday. The Lady Cardinals remain on the road to face Texas A&M in a nonconference game Wednesday before hosting Central Arkansas in a three-game Southland series next weekend.

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