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The softball team will travel to Lake Charles, Louisiana this weekend to play first place McNeese State University (23-6, 9-0) in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday.

McNeese is first in the Southland in pitching with a 2.19 ERA and second in hitting with a .320 average. They’ve won their last eight games and are currently 9-0 in conference.

The Wildcats are 12-15 overall and 6-3 in the Southland after losing a non-conference game to Texas Tech Wednesday night, 6-1.

Tech got off to an early lead with a run in the top of the first, but freshman Holly Neese homered to right field in the second inning to briefly tie the game. The Raiders came back to hit two two-run homers in the third inning, bringing the score to 5-1, and homered again in the seventh, making the final score 6-1.

Freshman Allison Tuner started the game and pitched 2.2-innings, giving up five runs on four hits and walking one. Redshirt sophomore Hannah Null relieved Turner in the third and ended up putting in 4.1-innings of work, striking out two and giving up one run.

She currently ranks fifth in the league with 66 strikeouts.

“We had a great practice Monday, probably the best practice we’ve had all spring,” said assistant coach Heather Barton. “Then we had a mid-week game against Texas Tech, although we didn’t win, we saw some areas we need to improve on and have since fixed it.”

McNeese beat ACU in two of three games last year in Abilene, one of which ended as a no-hitter against the Wildcats. McNeese also entered that series 9-0, just like they will this weekend.

“The best thing about coaching this year is seeing the growth in each of our girls,” Barton said. “We have a small roster this year and they didn’t have the luxury of getting to just get in the groove of things, they had to step up. Seeing them do that has been extraordinary.”