BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University softball team wraps up its 2019 regular season on Friday and Saturday when they travel to Lake Charles, La. to face rival McNeese in the Battle of the Border.
 
Lamar and McNeese will play a doubleheader on Friday at 5 p.m. and a single game on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. from Joe Miller Field.
 
Big Red has clinched a spot in the SLC Tournament for the first time since 2017. Lamar is only three games out of third place in the SLC standings entering the last weekend and all of the seeds for the SLC Tournament are up for grabs. The SLC Tournament bracket will be released this weekend.
 
ABOUT McNEESE
Series Record: 7-26 (34th, 35th and 36th Meetings)
Last Meeting: April 21, 2018 (10-6, McNeese)
McNeese enters the SLC series with Lamar coming off a loss to Southeastern Louisiana. The Cowgirls dropped the third game of the series, 1-0, to SLU. With the loss, McNeese dropped the series to Southeastern La. McNeese won the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, 4-1.

At the plate, the Cowgirls are led by Justyce McClain, who leads the team with a .405 batting average. Cori McCrary is second on the team hitting .313. Toni Perrin, Brenique Wright and McCrary lead the team with three home runs apiece. McCrary also leads the Cowgirls in RBIs as she has driven in 24 runs this season.

In the circle, Alexsandra Flores leads the team with 120.2 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .241 off her. She leads the team with 10 wins and has an ERA of 2.90, while striking out 53 batters. Besides Flores, the Cowgirls have Saleene Flores and Amber Coons. Saleene Flores is 5-5 on the season in 85.2 innings pitched. She has a team-best 1.76 ERA. Coons has pitched 65.1 innings this season and has a 2.36 ERA on the season.

As a team, the Cowgirls are hitting .258 with 14 home runs and 61 doubles. They have an on-base percentage of .326 and are 116-for-140 in stolen bases. In the circle, McNeese has a team ERA of 2.62. Opponents are hitting .247 against the Cowgirls with 88 extra base hits.
 
LAST TIME OUT: NICHOLLS (April 26-27)
The last time the Cards took to the field was last weekend when they hosted Nicholls. In the first game of the series, Lamar trailed 4-2 heading to the bottom of the seventh. Lamar answered by scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Following an RBI single by Jade Lewis that trimmed the lead down to one, Kelly Meeuwsen hit a walk off two run double giving the Cards a 5-4 win.
 
LU struggled to get the offense going in the second game as they collected five hits in the game. The Cards left six runners on base and fell behind early as Nicholls scored the first run of the game in the second inning. Nicholls added two more in the sixth and took game two, 3-0.
 
Coming down to the third and final game of the series to determine who would win the series, Nicholls came out on top. Emily Danehower kept the Cards bats quiet as she only allowed LU two hits. Both hits came in the bottom of the seventh inning. Meeuwsen led off with a double that set the LU career doubles mark. She scored on a Maddy Myers single. However, LU dropped the contest, 3-1.

What's Next
The Cards travel to Natchitoches, La. to participate in the Southland Conference Tournament. The tournament runs from May 7-10 at Lady Demon Diamond on the campus of Northwestern State University. Following this weekend's SLC games, opponents, seeds and times will be announced this weekend.
 
Fans can stay tuned to LamarCardinals.com or @LamarAthletics on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all season long for updates on softball and all other LU teams competing in the 2018-19 season.