BEAUMONT, Texas – Entering the home stretch before the conference tournament, Lamar University softball continues to fight for seeding as they welcome in their fellow Cardinals from Incarnate Word for a crucial weekend series in the Southland. Friday features a doubleheader with games at 3 and 5 p.m. while the series finale will be coupled with senior day festivities at 12 p.m. at the LU Softball Complex. All games can be streamed on ESPN+.
 
SENIOR SPOTLIGHTS
Lamar will be honoring four seniors before Saturday's game. These players have helped contribute to increased win totals for Big Red in each of the last three seasons under head coach Amy Hooks.
 
Brooke Davis has spent three years with the Cardinals after arriving in 2022 following a season at UAB. Chosen to the preseason All-SLC second team this year, Davis has appeared in 131 games in her LU career starting all but 15 of them. She has 65 hits, 37 runs scored, 11 doubles and one triple while driving in 28 RBI, stealing 15 bases and drawing 29 walks.
 
Karyana Mitchell is enjoying her best season for the Cardinals this year with a 1.95 ERA, a 12-5 record and two SLC pitcher of week honors. She also threw a no-hitter against Texas A&M-Commerce back on March 22. After transferring from Charlotte, she has made 50 appearances across two seasons for the Cardinals with a career ERA of 3.18 while striking out 135 batters in 198.1 innings pitched.
 
Cameron Niedenthal has spent the last two seasons rotating between designated hitter and first basemen responsibilities after transferring from Lamar State College Port Arthur last year. She has appeared in 88 games with 74 starts while collecting 54 hits, including 15 doubles, six homers, driving in 38 RBI and drawing 22 walks. She also struck out 40 batters on the mound in 2023 while being named to last season's all-SLC tournament team and entering this year with preseason all-SLC second team honors.
 
Mikaila Kenney joined the Cardinals last year after two seasons at Marshall, where she twice was named to the Conference USA Commisioner's honor roll. With Lamar, she has appeared in 68 games collecting 14 hits, three doubles, one triple and two homers. One of those homers was a walk-off blast against Texas A&M-Commerce last season, which was one of her career-high four hits of the game.
 
LAST TIME OUT
After taking an early 5-0 lead, LU fell 15-7 in a midweek slugfest at Houston. Shenita Tucker managed to break the single season school record for stolen bases while Makenzie Wright also launched her second home run this season.
 
KEY STORYLINES
Every conference game from here on out holds weight in terms of how the bracket for the Southland tournament will shape up. Lamar has clinched a spot in Hammond, La. but will have to string together quality performances as they face off against teams ahead of them in the conference standings to finish the season.
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tucker's two steals on Tuesday pushed her season total to 27 which ranks her sixth nationally. She takes over the single season school record previously held by Shannon Klaus in 2019.
 
Veronica Harrison recorded two RBI singles in consecutive innings on Tuesday to increase her team-high RBI total to 27 in her freshman season. She ranks fourth in RBI by a freshman in school history while sitting just one behind Shelby Henderson (2017) and two behind Sable Hankins (2015).
 
The LU pitching staff is on track to post its best team ERA since the program was resurrected in 2013. They boast a 2.84 mark which is buoyed by Emma Wardlaw (1.72) and Karyana Mitchell (1.95) who rank third and fourth in the Southland, respectively.
 
OPPONENT INFO: Incarnate Word (26-11, 10-5 SLC)
Time: Friday at 3 and 5 p.m., Saturday at 12 p.m.
Series Record: LU 14-5
Last Meeting: UIW 9-0 (4/29/23)
 
Lamar leads the all-time series with Incarnate Word but have lost five of the last seven meetings. UIW currently sits at third in the Southland standings just half a game ahead of LU who is in fifth. They have been on a tear as of late entering this series winners of nine of their last ten games.
 
The UIW offense has been their calling card this season as the team boasts three of the top five batters in the Southland in terms of batting average. Victoria Altamirano ranks eighth nationally hitting .462 which leads the conference. She also holds the top spot in OPS (1.344), RBI (43) and runs scored (45).
 
On the mound, UIW features a strong 1-2 punch of Larissa Jacquez and Samantha Portillo. Jacquez ranks second in the Southland in strikeouts (111) and ERA (2.04) while Portillo comes in at seventh in ERA (2.11) while leading the conference in opposing batting average (.178).