Fontenot, Cowgirls slam Houston

Published 9:31 pm Tuesday, March 3, 2026

The gauntlet has been run, and for the most part, it has been won.

The Cowgirls ended their pre-Southland Conference work Tuesday night with their 10th straight game against a Power 4 opponent.

McNeese finished the run as it started, with a victory over Big 12 Houston. The Cowgirls outslugged the Cougars 14-9 on the road. 

The game featured eight home runs, four by each team. The win ended McNeese’s pre-league work 16-7 as they continue to climb up the ranks of mid-major polls.

They also ended the 10-game stretch 7-3 and are 8-5 against schools from the four big conferences overall. They will open Southland play this weekend, hosting Lamar in a 3-game series starting. 

Nyjah Fontenot continued her hot play, celebrating being named the SLC Hitter of the Week with a grand slam to finish the scoring for the Cowgirls. Fontenot’s fourth blast of the season came in the top of the seventh and put McNeese ahead 14-5.

Kassidy Chance returned to the lineup fully after a knee injury to triple and drive in three runs, while Corine Poncho and Maddie Weeks both homered to lead the Cowgirls.

Poncho hit her third home run of the season, a solo shot with one out in the first, to give McNeese the early lead. She would also have a single and score on Chance’s triple in the Cowgirls’ 2-run four. Maddie Weeks hit her first home run of the season to account for the other run in the fourth, as McNeese went up 3-1. 

After the Cougars made it 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, the Cowgirls scored four times in the fifth, two on Chance’s fielder’s choice roller to second with the bases loaded and one out. 

Down 7-2, Houston got solo home runs in the bottom of the fifth from Maddie Hartley and RyLee Gardner during a 3-run rally. But McNeese’s Alexis Dibbley responded in the sixth with her second homer of the season to make the lead 8-5.