LAKE CHARLES, LA ? Shortstop Molly Guidry's fifth inning grand slam home run and a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seven inning gave McNeese State a 6-5 Southland Conference softball victory over Sam Houston State Sunday afternoon at Cowgirl Diamond.
McNeese State (17-18, SLC 11-4) swept the three-game series, defeating the Bearkats 3-0 and 2-0 in a doubleheader on Saturday.
Sam Houston (11-14, SLC 5-7) suffered its fourth loss in a row. Third baseman Sarah Parich led the Kats at the plate going 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Her double in the third ended a 22-inning SHSU scoreless streak. The doubled scored shortstop Hailey Wiginton to tie the game 1-1 in the third inning.
Cowgirl left fielder Claire Terracina's RBI single had put McNeese up 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning.
Designated player Morgan Mikulin led off the fourth inning with a double. With Tami Garrison running for Mikulin, catcher Casie Everitt bunted her to third where Garrison scored on a sacrifice fly by outfielder Alex Survant. The 2-1 margin marked the first time Sam Houston had held a lead in four games.
Second baseman Whitney Wilson doubled in the sixth, then scored on a double by Everitt to add another run for the Bearkats.
A run-scoring single by Parich and a ground out RBI with the bases loaded by Wilson gave the Kats two runs to tie the game 5-5 in the top of the seventh.
Saturday, McNeese State blanked Sam Houston State in a pair of Southland Conference softball games at Cowgirl Diamond Saturday by scores of 2-0 and 3-0.
Cowgirl pitcher Bethany Stenfinsky (10-10) limited the Bearkats to four hits in the first game, striking out 10 Sam Houston batters. Run-scoring singles by third baseman Dani Price and designated player Whitney Corbello provided McNeese State with the winning runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Brandi Crnkovic (5-6) was the losing for the Kats, giving up four hits and striking out two. Third baseman Sarah Parich went 2-for-3 while catcher Casie Everitt and right fielder Alex Survant each had one hit.
Sam Houston was held to four hits again in the nightcap with Wendy LaVoie (5-4) earning the victory in the Cowgirl pitching circle, Morgan Mikulin (4-5) gave up 10 hits to take the loss.
McNeese State scored all three runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a two-run double by Corbello and an RBI single by Holly Long. Shortstop Hailey Wiginton went 2-for-4 in the second contest for SHSU.
The Bearkats dropped to 11-13 for the season and 5-6 in Southland Conference action. The loss was the third in a row for Sam Houston State. McNeese State stands 16-18 for the year and 9-4 in league play.
The two teams will meet in the final game of the SLC series at 1 p.m. Sunday.
