HAMMOND, La. – Southland Conference Freshman of the Year
Isabella Flores delivered her fourth walk-off hit of the season Sunday as Lamar University shocked the defending conference champion, Southeastern Louisiana, 2-1 in eight innings for the second consecutive day, to win the Hammond, La. bracket of the SLC Conference tournament. This will be the first time in 10 years that LU will play for the conference title.
LU has won 33 games this season, which is the most since the 2017 team won 34 games. Nine of these wins have come in the Cardinals' last at-bat and five took place in extra innings.
Six different Cardinals recorded a hit while Flores and
Cimara-lei Wessling drove in both runs. For Flores, she became the first Cardinal in program history to record 50 RBIs in a single season.
Reagan Smith pitched her third consecutive complete-game victory, allowing one run on four hits with a strikeout.
For the first three innings, Smith and SLU's Maci LaRue conceded one hit apiece. The, the Cardinals broke the shutout in their half of the fourth Wessling drove in
Ariel Flores on a two-out single to put LU on the board. The Lions stranded a runner in scoring position in the next two innings as LU went to the seventh, needing three outs for victory.
The Lions tied the score with an RBI triple and after LU went down in order, the game went into extras. Smith retired the Lions in order in the top half of the eighth.
Sicily Windham led off the Cardinals' half with a double to left and advanced to third on a
Roxy Thompson sac bunt. One out later, Flores came to bat and sent a 1-0 pitch up the middle to score the winning run.
The SLC Championship series will be hosted by No. 2 McNeese, who won the other bracket. The best-of-three series starts Thursday with the game time to be determined. All games will be streamed on ESPN+.
