Southland Softball Tournament Begins in Lake Charles

Lake Charles, Louisiana - It's a busy weekend for Softball here in Lake Charles between the LHSAA High School Softball State Tournament and McNeese hosting some of the bracket play of the Southland Conference softball tournament.

McNeese Athletics

After all of the ups and downs of the softball season, the McNeese Cowgirls were able to find a way to grab the #2 seed in the Southland Conference softball tournament.

McNeese closed out the regular season in a big way, sweeping all three games against East Texas A&M. At the same time, Northwestern State upset Nicholls Colonels, taking the final game of the weekend series in Thibodeaux, which allowed McNeese to take over second place in the standings.

During the weekend, Freshman Brookelyn Taylor was really good for McNeese. Taylor, a native of Liberty, Texas, posted a 2-0 record with a 0.00 ERA last week with wins over UL-Lafayette and game two of the East Texas A&M series. Taylor recorded 13 strikeouts with one walk in 12.0 innings. With that, Taylor was named this week’s Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week.

All-Southland Conference Teams Announced

McNeese placed four players on the 2026 All-Southland Conference Softball Team, the league announced Tuesday. Kassidy Chance and Nyjah Fontenot earned First Team honors, while Alexis Dibbley and Maddie Taylor were named to the Second Team.

Chance led McNeese with a .425 conference batting average, 34 hits, and 18 RBI. Fontenot hit .326 with 15 hits, seven doubles, three home runs, and 11 RBI. Dibbley posted a .364 average with 28 hits, nine doubles, five home runs, and 24 runs scored. Taylor contributed both at the plate and in the circle, hitting .288 with 23 RBI while also going 8-2 as a pitcher with a 2.95 ERA and 43 strikeouts.

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McNeese Athletics

Southland Conference Softball Tournament

The four teams set for action this weekend in the Lake Charles side of the bracket are Stephen F Austin, Nicholls, and Northwestern State. McNeese saw mixed results against this group during the regular season. The Cowgirls were swept by Nicholls and dropped two of three to Northwestern State, but they did sweep Stephen F. Austin. In that series, the Ladyjacks’ offense scored more than 20 total runs across the three games, the most runs scored against McNeese this season in a 3-game series by an SLC opponent.

Southeastern Lady Lions earned the #1-seed in the SLC Tournament, and the Hammond bracket features UIW, Lamar, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and SELA. The winner of that bracket will match up with the winner of the Lake Charles bracket for the Championship series.

McNeese Athletics

On Wednesday, it was announced that with the impending weather coming into the Lake Charles area, the Southland Conference updated the start times for the games this weekend. Here is a look at the updated schedule...