BEAUMONT, Texas – Sophomore right-hander Laura Napoli pitcher her second straight two-hit shutout as the Lamar University softball team completed a three-game Southland Conference series sweep of visiting Incarnate Word with a 3-0 win Saturday.
 
Napoli (6-5) picked up her 25^th career victory, tying Shannon Millman for the LU career record. She is now tied for third on the LU all-time list with three shutouts. In all, it was a great weekend for the LU pitching staff, which allowed just seven hits over the three games, and one run, which was unearned.
 
"Our pitching stole the show this weekend," LU coach Holly Bruder said. "Ciara Luna gives up three hits and an unearned run in the first game on Friday, and then Laura throws a pair of two-hitters. There's no reason why she shouldn't be pitcher of the week this week."
 
Napoli didn't allow a base runner until issuing a one-out walk in the fourth inning. UIW didn't get its first hit until Natalie Duron led off the top of the fifth with a double, but she failed to advance any farther. UIW's second hit came with two outs in the top of the seventh when Duron scorched a grounder through the right side of the infield and barely beat the throw to first from right fielder Brittany Rodriguez.
 
"Frankly, I thought she was out at first," Bruder said. "But that shows you how great our defense played today. We made a number of outstanding plays and Brittany almost throws out a batter at first base."
 
LU (18-11 overall, 6-3 Southland) gave Napoli all the support she would need in the bottom of the first as back-to-back singles by Rodriguez and Kelly Meeuwsen combined with UIW errors on each play gave LU a 1-0 lead.
 
The Cardinals made it 2-0 in the fourth on Brynn Baca's solo home run to straight-away center field. LU added another run in the fifth when Rodriguez doubled and came in to score on Ashley McDowell's RBI single.
 
"Our hitting wasn't as good as it can be," Bruder said. "We left too many runners on base (22 over the three games), but we did what we needed to do to win. But there's no doubt we have to be better on offense."
 
Rodriguez went 3-for-3 as she raised her team-leading batting average to .440 while setting an LU record by reaching base safely in 25 games, breaking the old mark set by Stephanie Meeuwsen.
 
Bridget Stein (5-6) took the loss for Incarnate Word (10-20, 2-7), allowing seven hits and two runs, one earned over four innings.
 
The Cardinals are scheduled to host Houston in a non-conference doubleheader at 3 p.m. Tuesday before heading to Northwestern State for a three-game conference series that gets under way at with a doubleheader at 3 p.m. Friday before concluding with a single game at 1 p.m. April 2. The Houston doubleheader was moved up a day due to the forecast of inclement weather in Beaumont on Wednesday.
 
"Houston is a very good team," Bruder said. "We want to play some tough non-conference teams to get us better for our conference games. We'll work on some things to get our offense turned around."
 
For ticket information for all LU home games, please call 409-880-1715, or CLICK HERE.