Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
The Louisiana Tech Softball team is back in action tonight when it hosts Southeastern Louisiana for a 5 p.m. in-state showdown at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field.
Louisiana Tech is 1-0 this season after defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-1 in its season opener on Monday night at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field. The victory marked the sixth-consecutive season-opening win for the Bulldogs.
In the season-opening win over the Islanders, Brook Melnychuk and Allie Floyd combined to retire 21 of their 23 batters faced and carried a no-hitter to the game’s final out. Melnychuk pitched five innings of no-hit ball while tying a career-high with four strikeouts to earn her first victory of the season.
Floyd also tied a career-high with four strikeouts in two innings of relief to pick up the save. With the win, Melnychuk became the first LA Tech pitcher to record a victory in back-to-back season openers since Lindsey Meadows accomplished the feat in 2001-2002.
Nicole Hammoude led the Bulldogs at the plate by going 2-2 with a double, a run scored, and a walk. The two-hit performance was Hammoude’s second career multi-hit game. Claire Raley would lead Tech with 2 RBI, while Alexis Gilio and Brooke Diaz also drove in a run, respectively. Eight of the nine Bulldogs in the starting lineup recorded hits in the contest, the most since April 23, 2023.
Southeastern Louisiana (5-0)had a dominant opening weekend at the Mardi Gras Mambo in Youngsville, La. The Lions went 5-0 with wins over Green Bay (13-0), Providence (2-0), UT-Arlington (3-0), Montana (5-0) and North Dakota (8-0).
So far this season, Southeastern has posted a .426 team batting average with 52 hits and 31 runs scored. In the circle, the Lions have yet to allow a run this season and are limiting opponents to a .121 batting average.
The Bulldogs and Lions have met 68 times, with LA Tech leading the series 50-18. Southeastern took the last matchup 5-4 on Feb. 15, 2023, in Hammond courtesy of a walk-off sacrifice fly from Bailey Krolczyk.
