Cowgirls hoping to be unfriendly hosts

 

Having earned the right to host throughout the playoffs, the Cowgirls hope they can now keep riding a historic run at Joe Miller Field.

Over the last four years of Southland Conference dominance, including four straight regular-season titles, McNeese State has been hard to beat at home.

McNeese is 94-27 in Lake Charles during that stretch, 50-2 against SLC teams. That includes 42 straight and a 41-0 record the last three seasons.

“We like playing at home,” said outfielder Nyjah Fontenot. “Our fans really support us.”

The Cowgirls are 21-3 at home this season with their only losses to No. 1 Tennessee and SEC power LSU.

They hope that playing at home will be a significant benefit in the postseason.

“It is great we get to sleep in our own beds and keep our routine,” shortstop Reese Reyna said. “We want to play in front of our fans, they are great.”

Of course, none of that matters if the Cowgirls don’t play well.

“It is great to be home, but we have to keep our focus and play good softball,” said head coach James Landreneau. “The conference has gotten better.”

Top-seeded McNeese will open against East Texas A&M on Thursday at 3 p.m. The eighth-seeded Lions (10-40) were just 6-21 in the league and had to win their last game just to get in the postseason.

They do have first baseman Tatum Wright, who is coming off a big weekend. She hit .545 with two home runs, six RBIs, and slugged 1.273 to earn Hitter of the Week honors and send ETAM into their first postseason play as a Division I program.

McNeese did win all three games against the Lions in Lake Charles, outscoring them 36-6.

“That doesn’t matter,” said Landreneau. “It’s how you play this week that counts.”

The Cowgirls know the pitfalls ahead. Last year, after winning the league, they fell in the tournament without even reaching the finals.

“We played tense, not ourselves (last year),” said Reyna. “We played not to lose. We can learn from that.”

There are some stumbling blocks in McNeese’s pod. No. 4 Incarnate Word and No. 5 Lamar will play the second game Thursday. Of McNeese’s four losses in the league, those two teams have beaten them three times.

Lamar (28-25, 15-12) is the only team to have won a series over the Cowgirls, taking two of three in Beaumont, Texas, early in the season. UIW (28-19, 17-10) beat McNeese twice in last season’s tournament to knock out the Cowgirls.

UIW is led by newly crowned Player and Hitter of the Year Victoria Altamirano, who finished second in the league in hitting at .447. She led the league in home runs with 15, one more than McNeese’s Jada Munoz. 

Munoz led the conference in doubles (19) and runs batted in (53). Freshman Kassidy Chance leads the Cowgirls in hitting at .400 while Fontenot is right behind at .394.

McNeese hopes that being at home this weekend will help them advance to the championship series, where they will also host if they make it that far.