April 21, 2006

McNeese State's softball team (17-27, 9-12 SLC) returns to Southland Conference action this weekend to host Sam Houston State (17-25, 10-11 SLC) in a three-game series. A 1 p.m. doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday with a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday.

McNeese enters the weekend on a four game losing streak after dropping a doubleheader to #13 UL-Lafayette on Wednesday. The Cowgirls fell 12-2 (5 innings) in game one and dropped the second game 6-1.

Prior to that, the Cowgirls dropped the final two games of a SLC series at Northwestern State last weekend by the scores of 5-1 and 5-0.

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Cowgirls are currently in a fifth place tie with Nicholls State in the standings. The top six teams at the end of the regular season will make up the SLC tournament field May 5-7 in Natchitoches. Nicholls State travels to Texas State this weekend before coming to Lake Charles next weekend.

Sam Houston State enters the weekend in fourth place in the league standings behind Texas State, Texas-San Antonio and Texas-Arlington.

Catcher Jenny Clay continues to lead the Cowgirls with a .339 batting average, .607 slugging percent, .435 on base percent. Clay also leads the team in six other offensive categories including runs scored, triples, home runs and total bases.

Pitcher Jessica Denham leads the Cowgirls in the circle with 10 victories and a 2.59 ERA. Denham is also the team leader with 148 strikeouts and has pitched 167.2 innings.