Thanks to a 5-1 victory over Stephen F. Austin Friday in the opening contest of a three-game series in Nacogdoches, Sam Houston has earned the sixth berth in the Southland Conference Tournament next Wednesday through Friday in Lake Charles, La.
The victory completes an amazing turnaround that has seen the young Bearkat squad rebound from a 2-7 start in league play. Sam Houston has rallied to win nine of their last 15 Southland games including the last four in a row to return to post-season play after missing the 2015 tournament.
“These young ladies have never quit despite going through some tough times,” Sam Houston head coach Bob Brock said. “We felt all along that we had a lot of talent on this squad and we've proved it down the stretch. We came in focused today and played well again today. We really wanted to get that one victory we needed to go to the tournament in the first game and we did.”
Standing 7-21 for the season after a doubleheader loss to Northwestern State in Huntsville March 26, Sam Houston now stands 20-30 for the year and 12-13 in conference. SFA, a team that had won five of its last six games, drops to 24-26 on the season and stand 12-12 now in the league.
The pair complete the series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday. If the Bearkats could win both contests, they would leap-frog the Lumberjacks to become the fifth seed in the tournament.
Sam Houston got off to a quick start in the top of the first inning thanks to a two-run double by shortstop Tiffany Castillo and a sacrifice fly by designated player Ashley Goetz. Outfielder Bailey Watson opened the game with a single and the Kats loaded the bases with no outs thanks to an error by the shortstop on a ground ball by second baseman Dani Allen and a walk to third baseman Breanna Homer.
After a force out at home on a grounder by catcher Katie Doerre, Castillo powered a shot to deep right center to score Allen and Homer. Doerre added the third run on a Goetz fly ball to center.
Hannah Marino added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh with her fourth home run of the season. The blast to left field also scored first baseman Cordi Carpenter who walked.
Pitcher Lindsey McLeod kept the Jacks at bay from the circle. The freshman right-hander retired the first six batters she faced. She got out of a jam in the third inning with runners on second and third with only one out. The final two outs came on a pop fly and a strike out.
Faith Talley homered to left center in the bottom of the fifth to cut the margin to 3-1. The Jacks followed up by getting runners to second and third with only one out again. But McLeod struck out two more SFA hitters to stop the rally.
With her ninth complete game performance of the season, McLeod evened her season record at 10-10. She struck out nine of the 27 batters she faced, limited SFA to four hits.
Sam Houston's four runs came on four hits (by Castillo, Watson, Carpenter and Marino) and one Jack error.
