With just six conference games left, the Cowgirls are ready to say goodbye to their seniors this weekend and hello to hosting the playoffs.

If things work out, McNeese State could clinch being home for one of the two postseason mini-tournaments.

The regular season’s top two Southland Conference finishers will host three other teams in a regional double-elimination setting. The winners will then meet at the higher seed’s home the following weekend in a best-of-3 series.

“It is very important you get to host as much as you can,” McNeese head coach James Landreneau said. “Our fans give us such a big advantage at home. Our players like to play in front of them and are comfortable there.”

McNeese enters its final home conference series at 31-17, 17-4 in the league and tied with Southeastern for first place. The Cowgirls are riding an 8-game winning streak and are 18-3 at home.

They are tied with Southeastern for the top spot but hold the tiebreaker. McNeese is looking to become the first team in SLC history to win four straight regular-season titles.

“We can’t think about that,” said Landreneau. “We have to worry about ourselves. We can’t be worried about what others are doing and not take care of ourselves.”

The Cowgirls will host East Texas A&M (9-35, 5-16) starting Friday with a doubleheader at Joe Miller Field. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

McNeese is 11-1 all-time against the Lions and has won the last six. Southeastern travels to fourth-place Incarnate Word this weekend.

“We just have to stay focused on ourselves,” said Landreneau. “We still have work to do and can get better.”

McNeese is coming off a sweep of Houston Christian and has taken this week off from games after playing nine games in as many days, all in league. The Cowgirls went 8-1 in that stretch.

“The last three days felt like a vacation,” said Landreneau. “We wanted to take a step back and work on some things to get us ready for the final games. There is still a lot of softball to play.”

Landreneau credits the growth in his young team’s ability to overcome adversity as one of the main things that has the Cowgirls on a roll, especially true freshmen pitchers Maddie Taylor and Kadence Williams. 

Taylor is 14-6 and leads the Southland in conference wins with nine. Williams is fifth in the league with six SLC victories and a 9-7 record overall. 

Ryann Schexnayder leads the Southland in saves with seven.