BEAUMONT, Texas - Thanks to a sweep against Texas A&M-Commerce, Lamar University's softball team is set to begin the Southland Conference tournament as the fourth seed against the fifth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders. All tournament games will be at the Joe Miller Field on the campus of McNeese State University.

PREVIOUSLY
In their last regular season series of the year, LU swept Texas A&M-Commerce to secure their conference tournament bid. Aaliyah Ruiz was the winning pitcher in all three games as she helped LU win game 1 7-0 (7.0 IP, 7 K's, three hits), game two 6-4 (1.0 IP, 1K), and game three 2-1 (7.0 IP, 6 K's, 7 hits). Her performance got her a second straight SLC Pitcher of the Week honor.  Brooke Davis and Aleka Xayaseng each drove in 2 RBI in game one while Mikaila Kenney's 4-for-4, 4 RBI performance in game two featured a walk-off two run blast. Game three was Rien Milliken's day with two hits and two RBI in the win.

LAST TIME AGAINST TAMU-CC
LU dropped two-of-three games to the Islanders this season. After falling 1-0 in game one, the Cardinals overcame a 2-0 deficit to win the second game 3-2 with RBI from Estella Garza, Brooke Davis, and Sam Bean. While she would take the loss in the circle in game three, Cameron Niedenthal homered for LU's only run of the game.

STATS UPDATE
Bean retook LU's batting average lead hitting .320 while she has 48 hits. Second to Bean is Kaylee Ancelot, who has 47 hits and leads with 35 RBI while both of them are still tied with six homers. In the circle, Ruiz has dropped her ERA to 3.18 with 13 wins and a team-high 86 strikeouts in 130.0 innings.


SCHEDULE

Tuesday, May 9

12:00 p.m. vs. No. 5 TAMU-CC (DH)


Wednesday, May 10

11:00 a.m. vs. No. 1 McNeese

OR

6:30 p.m. vs. loser of No. 2 Southeastern La./No. 7Houston Christian winner vs.  No. 3 Nicholls/No. 6 Northwestern State loser.


OPPONENT INFO: TAMU-Corpus Christi
Series Record: LU 14-9 (24th meeting)
Last Meeting: AMCC 5-1 (4/15/23)

The Islanders finished their regular season 23-22 overall and 11-13 in the conference to be the fifth seed. Sydney Hoyt has the team lead in batting average (.287), RBI (29), and hits (33). Sidney Campion is tied with Juliana Garcia with 10 steals each while Quinn De Avila has four homers to lead the Islanders. In the circle, Primrose Aholelei posts a 1.83 ERA, which is second in the conference. But she leads the entire SLC field with 159 strikeouts.

UP NEXT
If LU wins their first game against AMCC, they would take on No. 1 McNeese at 11:00 am on Wednesday. If they lose the first game, they will play at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the loser's bracket against the loser of the winners between SLU/HCU and NICH/NSU winner.


To purchase tickets for the tournament, click right here.

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