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American Press
30-04-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Happy home owners
Cowgirls look to use home cooking to stay hot. (Kirk Meche/Special to the American Press) Having earned the right to host throughout the playoffs, the Cowgirls hope they can now keep riding a historic run at Joe Miller Field. Over the last four years of Southland Conference dominance, including four straight regular-season titles, McNeese State has been hard to beat at home. McNeese is 94-27 in Lake Charles during that stretch, 50-2 against SLC teams. That includes 42 straight and a 41-0 record the last three seasons. 'We like playing at home,' said outfielder Nyjah Fontenot. 'Our fans really support us.' The Cowgirls are 21-3 at home this season with their only losses to No. 1 Tennessee and SEC power LSU. They hope that playing at home will be a significant benefit in the postseason. 'It is great we get to sleep in our own beds and keep our routine,' shortstop Reese Reyna said. 'We want to play in front of our fans, they are great.' Of course, none of that matters if the Cowgirls don't play well. 'It is great to be home, but we have to keep our focus and play good softball,' said head coach James Landreneau. 'The conference has gotten better.' Top-seeded McNeese will open against East Texas A&M on Thursday at 3 p.m. The eighth-seeded Lions (10-40) were just 6-21 in the league and had to win their last game just to get in the postseason. They do have first baseman Tatum Wright, who is coming off a big weekend. She hit .545 with two home runs, six RBIs, and slugged 1.273 to earn Hitter of the Week honors and send ETAM into their first postseason play as a Division I program. McNeese did win all three games against the Lions in Lake Charles, outscoring them 36-6. 'That doesn't matter,' said Landreneau. 'It's how you play this week that counts.' The Cowgirls know the pitfalls ahead. Last year, after winning the league, they fell in the tournament without even reaching the finals. 'We played tense, not ourselves (last year),' said Reyna. 'We played not to lose. We can learn from that.' There are some stumbling blocks in McNeese's pod. No. 4 Incarnate Word and No. 5 Lamar will play the second game Thursday. Of McNeese's four losses in the league, those two teams have beaten them three times. Lamar (28-25, 15-12) is the only team to have won a series over the Cowgirls, taking two of three in Beaumont, Texas, early in the season. UIW (28-19, 17-10) beat McNeese twice in last season's tournament to knock out the Cowgirls. UIW is led by newly crowned Player and Hitter of the Year Victoria Altamirano, who finished second in the league in hitting at .447. She led the league in home runs with 15, one more than McNeese's Jada Munoz. Munoz led the conference in doubles (19) and runs batted in (53). Freshman Kassidy Chance leads the Cowgirls in hitting at .400 while Fontenot is right behind at .394. McNeese hopes that being at home this weekend will help them advance to the championship series, where they will also host if they make it that far.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bella Houck of LCU softball wins RRAC player of the week
WACO, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) — Louisiana Christian University softball player Bella Houck was named the Red River Athletic Conference player of the week in the last week of the season. Houck, a graduate student from Leesville, Louisiana, last won the award in 2023. In addition to Player of the Week, she also won Hitter of the Week. Local college sports Houck is currently on a 12-game hitting streak and a 16-game on-base streak. In LCU's last game against Jarvis Christian, she tied her career-high with 3 RBIs. She led the Wildcats in slugging percentage, total bases, defensive putouts, hits, doubles, and walks. Next for LCU, hosting the RRAC tournament for the second straight season. The tournament starts on Thursday, May 2. The Wildcats will go into the tournament as the #6 seed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
American Press
24-04-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Baseball showdown in Texas
McNeese's Conner Westenburg leads the nation in triples with nine. (Photo by Richard Martin/McNeese Athletics) Edinburg, Texas, sounds like the perfect town to host a showdown. It will do just that this weekend when the Cowboys ride into town for a huge three-game series. McNeese State will take on Southland Conference newcomer Texas-Rio Grande Valley with at least a share of first place on the line. The series starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. with an expected crowd of over 4,000 on hand. 'This is exciting,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. 'These are the types of games you want to play in and in these types of settings.' The Cowboys enter the series tied with Southeastern for first place with nine games remaining, just a half game ahead of the Vaqueros (26-14, 17-7). McNeese is 29-8, 16-5. SELA will be at Houston Christian for its weekend series against the fourth-place Huskies, who are just two games out. The four clubs are in the chase for hosting one of the two postseason pods. 'This is the time when you have to play your best,' said Hill. 'The team that plays the game better is the likely winner.' Both teams head into the series coming off midweek losses. McNeese fell to Louisiana Christian on Tuesday, while UTRGV fell to Incarnate Word in a non-conference game. 'We have to flush that game quick,' said Hill. 'We have been good all year doing that and getting focused on what is next.' He believes his club will be ready for the challenge. 'This is what you want, to play in this type of series with championship aspirations,' said Hill. 'We have given ourselves this chance, so we have to enjoy it. 'This is going to be a great setting for us to go play in,' said Hill. 'We are excited about the opportunity.' Hill knows it will be the little things that make a big difference in winning games down the stretch. 'These are important games,' said Hill. 'This is the time of year when you have to play winning baseball, clean baseball. You can't give up extra outs and hope to beat good teams.' McNeese will start left-hander Cooper Golden, who is 2-2 with a 5.87 earned run average. He will be facing fellow lefty Victor Loa, the Southland ERA leader at 2.01, and has a 5-1 record in 10 starts. Alexis Gravel (2-2, 3.98) will go for the Cowboys in Game 2 Saturday night against Wyatt Wiatrek (6-0, 3.69). Neither team has announced a starter for Sunday's series finale. 'They have really strong pitching and play the game right,' said Hill. 'This is going to be a tough series.' The Cowboys have been playing relatively clean, having won 15 of their last 17 games, including five consecutive SLC series wins. They have only lost one of those all season. Leading McNeese into the series will be shortstop Easton Dowell. The redshirt sophomore tops the league in hitting with a .414 average and is coming off a huge weekend that earned him Hitter of the Week honors in the SLC. Dowell was 8-for-12 as McNeese jumped into first by taking two of three from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Dowell had three doubles and a home run in the series. Senior Conner Westenburg also had a solid series and tops the conference in stolen bases. He also leads the nation in triples with nine. McNeese even got a boost from the return of Sergio Lopez. Perhaps the team's best pitcher, Lopez, missed four weeks with a non-baseball injury and didn't look like he missed a beat. He got the win Sunday, throwing 4⅓ innings of shutout ball. Lopez may give the Cowboys an extra bullet for this showdown.
American Press
21-04-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Cowgirls take streak to LSU
For the second time this season Jada Munoz was named SLC Hitter of the Week. (Kirk Meche/Special to the American Press) Jada Munoz became a two-time Hitter of the Week winner in the Southland Conference, the league announced Monday. The junior third baseman of the Cowgirls went 5-for-9 for the week, hitting .667 with a .750 on-base percentage and slugging at a 1.556 clip as McNeese State swept East Texas A&M. She had seven RBIs to tie a Cowgirl single-game record in the opener while hitting two home runs. Munoz also drew four walks and scored four runs in the series while driving in a total of nine and adding two doubles to her work. Munoz will lead McNeese into Baton Rouge Tuesday with an 11-game winning streak. The Cowgirls will also be trying to avenge an earlier 12-2 loss at the hands of the No. 9 Tigers. In what could be a regional preview, McNeese will try to extend their season-best 11-game win streak. Ironically, just a week earlier, the school's baseball team saw its 12-game win streak stopped by LSU in the same town. 'Anytime you get to go there and compete in that type of atmosphere, it is exciting for everybody,' said McNeese head coach James Landreneau. 'The players really like to play against those types of teams. We find out where we are as a team.' The Cowgirls led early in the first meeting in Lake Charles, but LSU scored 12 runs in the final two innings to put the game away. Home runs by Tori Edwards, McKenzie Redoutey, and Maddox McKee powered the comeback on April 1. Overall, McNeese has won just four of the 33 meetings in the series and is just 2-19 in Baton Rouge. The Cowgirls have lost their last four games and haven't won in the state capital since 2014. The sweep also kept the Cowgirls tied with Southeastern for first place in the conference at 20-4. McNeese is 34-7 overall. With just three league games remaining, the Cowgirls hold the tiebreaker on SELA, so if both were to advance to the championship series, which would be played in Lake Charles. 'It is always good to get a win,' said Landreneau. McNeese is still in the running to become the first team in league history to win four straight SLC regular season championships as well. 'We still have work to do for that,' said Landreneau. 'That's for you guys to write about; we have to stay focused on the next game. It has been a journey.' McNeese will finish up its lead season next weekend with three games at Stephen F. Austin. Unlike the first two games of the series, when the Cowgirls won by a combined 30-3 score on Friday night, Saturday afternoon's affair was much tighter. 'It is not that easy to score,' said Landreneau. 'We had the one good inning, and Nyjah Fontenot came up with the big hit.' A pair of sacrifice flies by Delaney Dunham and Fontenot in the second inning gave McNeese a 2-0 lead. The Cowgirls put the game away in the bottom of the fourth with some help from ETAM starter Kate Houser, who walked the bases loaded with one out. Fontenot responded with a triple to center that scored three. 'I was just looking for a pitch down I could hit well,' said Fontenot. 'My teammates did their job getting on base; it was time for me to do my job.' Fontenot then scored on a throwing error to give McNeese a 6-0 lead. That proved to be the end for Houser, who fell to 4-4 with the loss. Lefty Ryann Schexnayder worked six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. She walked two and struck out three while improving to 5-1 on the year. 'I thought Ryann was outstanding,' said Landreneau. 'She has ice water in her veins.'
American Press
21-04-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Dowell earns hitting honor
Easton Dowell earned hitting award from Southland Conference this week. (Kirk Meche/Special to American Press) For the second straight week, and third time overall, McNeese State has won a Player of the Week award in baseball. Easton Dowell, the Southland Conference's leading hitter at .431, earned Hitter of the Week honors Monday, the league announced. That comes a week after center fielder Conner Westenburg picked up the same award. Left-hander Alexis Grevel won the Pitcher of the Week honor earlier in the season. Dowell had a big weekend as the Cowboys took two of three from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to move into a tie for first place with Southeastern, a half game ahead of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. The redshirt sophomore shortstop was 8-for-12 (.750) and hit his sixth home run during the three-game series at Joe Miller Ballpark. He also had three doubles and drove in four runs. 'Easton has been an outstanding player for us all season,' said Hill. 'We feel good when he is at the plate. He puts a good swing on the ball most of the time.' Dowell was 3-for-3 in the series finale Saturday, a 3-1 victory. The Cowboys will open a showdown series with UTRGV Friday night in Texas. However, before that, McNeese will host Louisiana Christian on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Parker Morgan (1-1) will make his seventh start for McNeese. The Wildcats (23-23) have lost six straight games. 'We have business to take care of first on Tuesday,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. The Cowboys captured the series against the Islanders thanks to Sergio Lopez and Jake Blackwell. The two pitchers combined to hold down the Islanders just 24 hours after they had hit five home runs. The duo allowed just one run and five hits as they split Saturday's outing. The win gave the Cowboys (29-7, 16-5) their fifth straight Southland Conference series victory and sixth in seven weekends. 'You want to sweep, but you know you are not going to win them all,' said Hill. 'What you have to do is win the series.' Lopez helped them do that. Making his first start of the season, and pitching for the first time in four weeks after an injury, Lopez didn't miss a beat. Lopez pitched 4⅓ innings, allowing three hits while striking out five. He left on a pitch count and picked up the win to improve to 5-1. 'We were hoping to get two innings out of him, but he did more,' said Hill. Blackwell went the final 4⅔ innings to earn his third save. Blackwell's only mistake was a home run hit by Jarrett Flaggert, who blasted his third of the year and second in as many days in the sixth to cut the lead to 2-1. Conner Westenburg and Conner Schneider each added two hits for the Cowboys.
