After six straight losses, the Cowgirls opened a weekend series on the right track Friday afternoon.

In the first game of a doubleheader against Louisiana-Monroe, McNeese State did enough to end their losing skid at Cowgirl Diamond.

Freshman Alexis Dibbley singled and homered as McNeese improved to 13-10 while Monroe fell to 16-7.

It was the Cowgirls’ first win of the week. Four of their six losses came at the hands of teams from Power 5 Conferences, with No. 2 LSU beating them twice. 

They also lost a pair of games to Louisiana Tech during the stretch.

McNeese took the lead in the first when Crislyne Moreno scored from third on Samantha Mundine’s line single to left just two batters in. Moreno had started the game by lining a triple off the wall in right-center.

The Cowgirls made it 2-0 in the second on a Bella Perez sacrifice fly to left that scored Reese Reyna.

Corine Poncho’s bid for her 10th home run of the season came up just short with one out in the third. Poncho lifted a high fly to deep left and into the wind, pushing left-fielder Lourdes Bacon to the wall.

There Bacon jumped as high as she could and grabbed the ball that was clearly over the wall, keeping the McNeese lead at 2-0.

The Warhawks scored their only run in the fourth on an error by McNeese pitcher Shaelyn Sanders, who threw the ball down the line in right. That sent Brooklin Lippert racing across the plate. 

McNeese got the run back in the bottom of the fifth on Dibbley’s second home run of the season, a one-out shot over the wall in right-center.

Sanders earned the victory in relief for McNeese, throwing the final 5 1⁄3, striking out five while evening her record at 5-5. Monroe starter Victoria Adama (6-3) took the loss. 

Sanders’ biggest play came in the sixth as back-to-back hits by Monroe had runners on the corners with one out. Madison Blount laid down a near-perfect bunt that Sander raced in to get the ball and tag Lippert, who was trying to score from third, just before she touched the plate.

The play kept the Cowgirl lead at two runs and killed the Warhawk rally.

McNeese will finish the series with a single game Saturday against the Warhawks. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. 

After that the Cowgirls will head to Lafayette to battle ULL Wednesday night before continuing on to Nicholls the following weekend to open Southland Conference play.