Sam Houston State squeezed by McNeese State 1-0 in a one-hitter Thursday night in the opening game of the Evangeline Bank and Trust Invitational.

Bearcats (4-6) pinch hitter Brailey Wasik singled to left — barely eluding the glove of McNeese shortstop Josie Willingham — to score Caitlyn Goodeaux with the game’s lone run in the top of the fifth inning.

Goodeaux was running for catcher Hannah Schaefer, who raced on an error with one out in the inning and advanced to second on a walk.

The Cowgirls (6-5), who were no-hit through six innings, had their best scoring chance in the bottom of the seventh inning. Adriana Ramirez singled with one out. Pinch runner Reese Reyna stole second base and Toni Perrin walked to put the go-ahead run on base, but Wasik (2-0) struck out the next two batters to end the game. She pitched a complete game, striking out four and walking five for the former Southland Conference team.

Ashley Vallejo (3-2) took the loss, throwing a complete game and allowing three hits and three walks while striking out seven.

“It was a disappointing loss,” Cowgirls head coach James Landreneau said. “Their pitcher kept us off balance and we struggled making adjustments. We kept hitting the ball into the ground, had a lot of weak contact. We just couldn’t get anything going.

“Ashley did a good enough job to get us a win. She pitched well, minimized damage. We have to find a way to score some runs. We didn’t have enough traffic on base all night.”

Vallejo issued one walk and struck out four through the first four innings.

“I thought her velocity was pretty good tonight and she was able to command both sides of the plate, keep them off balance pretty well,” Landreneau said of Vallejo. “We had a couple of innings where we got ahead in the count and had them chasing some pitches out of the zone.”

The Invitational continues with five games today, capped by McNeese vs. UNLV at 7 p.m.

“I want to see how we respond,” Landreneau said. “I want to see if we are going to have some guts, if we are going to come back from a disappointing loss at home and play well. We have to keep our composure at the plate and be better than we were today.”