BEAUMONT, Texas - In what will be 36 days, 863 hours, 51,780 minutes, 3,106,800 seconds, and 28 games since their season began, Lamar University's softball team will finally make their first appearance at the LU Softball Complex for the 2023 campaign. The Cardinals will look to build off their series win from last weekend when they host Southeastern Louisiana this weekend.

PREVIOUSLY

In their first Southland Conference series in two years, the Cardinals took two-of-three from the Demons of Northwestern State University. Game one was a dominating 8-2 victory that saw Kaylee Ancelot homer while collecting two RBI along with Brooke Davis and Cameron Niedenthal. Karyana Mitchell got the win with 7.0 innings of two-run, four-hit ball with six strikeouts.

While LU fell in game two 5-4, Ancelot recorded her second homer on the day. But the Cardinals would bounce back in the third game winning 6-1 behind a complete game performance by Aaliyah Ruiz (one run, five hits, two strikeouts) as well as two hits from Davis and Hayley Freudenberg along with Niedenthal's first homer of the season.

STATS UPDATE

Ancelot (.338 BA, 15 RBI, 3 HR) and Sam Bean (.329, 12 RBI, 4 HR, 19 runs) each have a team-high 26 hits while Freudenberg, who leads with eight doubles and is second with 14 RBI is also second with 23 hits. Aleka Xayaseng is four-of-five in stolen bases while her sister is second with a perfect three-of-three. Mitchell still leads LU's pitching staff with four wins, 56.0 IP, and 38 strikeouts, but is second to Niedenthal (4.72) in ERA with 4.75.

SCHEDULE

Friday, Mar. 17

3:00 p.m. @ Southeastern La.

5:00 p.m. @ Southeastern La.

Saturday, Mar. 18

12:00 p.m. @ Southeastern La.

OPPONENT INFO: Southeastern La.

Series Record: 11-14 (26th Meeting)

Last Meeting: SLU 7-3 (3/13/21)

The Cardinals were swept by the Lions in their last series back in 2021. In game one, Ramirez had two hits of her three hits in the series and an RBI while Ruiz struck out six batters in a losing effort. In game three, Sydnee Adams recorded two hits and scored a run while both Freudenberg and Audry Fleming each drove in an RBI.

This marks the first conference series for the Lions. At 20-6, the Lions are coming off an 11-1 loss to #12 LSU. Collectively, they are batting .311 with 198 hits and 129 RBI. All of those are currently first in the conference. Bailey Krolczyk is currently third in the conference in batting with a .382 average for the highest sub .400 hitter.  She's also third in RBI (14) and homers (four) along with teammate Maria Detillier. Last week, Detillier was named SLC hitter of the week by batting .438. Meanwhile, in the circle, KK Ladner leads the conference with a 1.05 ERA going 5-1 with a conference-best 74 strikeouts in 59.1 innings.

Up Next

The Cardinals are back home for a Tuesday doubleheader against Texas Southern that will start at 2:00 p.m.
 

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