Cowgirls beat former teammate, pro team
Published 6:00 pm Thursday, October 12, 2017
<p class="p1">The McNeese State softball team got a chance to show what it could do against some of the country’s best players, and made the most of the opportunity.</p><p class="p1">The Cowgirls earned a 2-1 victory against a National Pro Fastpitch team comprised of players from the league’s two Texas-based teams, the Scrapyard Dawgs and Texas Charge.</p><p class="p1">Pitching for the NPF team was former Cowgirl and newly christened McNeese pitching coach Emily Vincent.</p><p class="p1">“It was kind of crazy,” Vincent said. “Last time I was here I won a (Southland Conference) championship. Coming back and having completely different people behind me was awesome because I love this atmosphere the fans and the team bring.”</p><p class="p1">The Texas squad also picked up former McNeese pitcher Baylee Corbello to play first base for the game, something she didn’t find out until head coach James Landreneau called her on Tuesday morning.</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“I got the opportunity to get back on the field again, and I didn’t think that would happen,” Corbello said. “Tonight was just fun. It wasn’t really about wins and losses, especially for me. I’m never going to play again, so this was just fun to come out here one last time.”</span></p><p class="p1">Landreneau said he was happy to have two former players back on Cowgirl Diamond for one last game.</p><p class="p1">Still, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t at all conflicted about who to cheer for. </p><p class="p1">“It’s great for the fans, and it’s a great opportunity for them to play in front of us,” Landreneau said. “It’s difficult, though. It’s hard to cheer against people you’ve been cheering for your whole live and wanting to win. But I thought it was a great experience for our girls.”</p><p class="p1">Khadija Kneely put the NPF team on the board first with a leadoff solo home run over the center-left field wall in the top of the third inning.</p><p class="p1">The lead was short lived, however, as Vincent issued a bases-loaded walk and then hit Hailey Drew to score Carleigh Chaumont and give McNeese a 2-1 lead.</p><p class="p1">Alexsandra Flores pitched five innings in which she gave up one earned run and freshman pitcher Ashley Koncir closed out the game with two scoreless innings.</p><p class="p1">Landreneau praised his team for playing hard, especially defensively.</p><p class="p1">Early in the game, Drew made a diving catch near third base, and sophomore left fielder Brenique Wright also made a diving grab in foul territory for a big out.</p><p class="p1">“I like our effort,” Landreneau said. “I thought defensively we played well. Flores settled into the game really well, and Koncir came off the bench and played her butt off. We played some pretty good defense for the most part.”</p><p class="p1">The Cowgirls struggled offensively, but Landreneau said that was to be expected going up against Vincent and the rest of the NPF pitching staff.</p><p class="p1">“We were facing pretty good arms there, but I think we competed in the box,” Landreneau said. “We didn’t give up too many at-bats.”</p>
