After rebounding from its first Southland Conference loss by rallying to beat Northwestern State twice to win the weekend series, the McNeese State softball team will look to keep the momentum going tonight when it travels to play Houston.

McNeese (28-12) beat the Cougars 9-1 in five innings in Lake Charles on March 15 with Lindsay Davis earning the win with three scoreless innings in relief of starter Shaelyn Sanders. Houston (18-18) has won six of its last eight games, including a 7-6 win over East Carolina in the rubber match of a three-game American Athletic Conference series on Saturday.

Ashley Vallejo (9-7, 2.68 ERA) starred for the Cowgirls over the weekend, earning SLC Pitcher of the Week honors after winning two games against Northwestern State. The first was a complete game one-hitter Friday night in which she struck out a career-high 14 batters in a 4-0 Cowgirls win. On Saturday, she allowed one hit over five innings with Davis earning a save in a 2-0 McNeese win. Vallejo is 14-0 in conference games over the past two seasons.

While the pitching staff has remained consistent all season with Vallejo, Whitney Tate (12-3, 1.45) and Sanders (4-0, 1.98) all ranked in the top 10 of the SLC in ERA rankings, the lineup has been in flux as head coach James Landreneau said the Cowgirls have dealt with injuries the past few weeks.

Jada Munoz delivered an RBI double Saturday in a spot start, Kaylee Lopez took advantage of three consecutive starts with four hits and four RBIs in the series and Rylie Bouvier moved from third base to catcher twice in the series to fill in for Chloe Gomez and Erin Phillips, who were both out injured.

“We know we have other kids ready to play,” Landreneau said. “We are fortunate enough to have kids capable of playing multiple positions. Early in the season we play a lot of people so that in case this happens, we’ll have people with experience.

“Right now we need everybody. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we’ll get everyone back. Bouvier did a great job behind the plate. It was a great team win. We went to the pen and had everyone contributing.”