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20 - Jaycee Foor (Nicholls)
Arief Harlan

SB: Huskies return home to face league-leading Cowgirls

HCU finishes off rugged stretch of nine games in ten days; Alumni Day on Saturday



Southland Conference Series 7 – HCU (13-25 / 6-12 SLC) vs. McNeese State University (28-17 / 14-4 SLC)
 
  • Husky Field – Houston, Texas
 
  • Friday – April 11, 2025 (DH at 4 / 6:30 pm)
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  • Saturday – April 12, 2025 (12 pm)
            📈 LIVE STATS
            📺 ESPN+  
 
Houston Christian University returns home to finish off a rugged stretch of nine games in 10 days when it hosts league-leading McNeese State University at Husky Field. The series opens with a Friday doubleheader starting at 4 pm and ends with an "Alumni Day" finale at noon on Saturday.
 
The Huskies are coming off a tough trip to Thibodaux on Tuesday and Wednesday that saw them drop all three games to the league's hottest team, Nicholls State University. HCU fell in both ends of the Tuesday twin-bill, losing 4-0 and 3-1 before a 10-0 defeat in the series finale on Wednesday. The Colonels held HCU to just 13 hits and one run over the trio of games in running their own winning streak to 12 games to climb into a third-place tie with SFA in the Southland standings.
 
Having lost six in a row, the Huskies were dealt another blow earlier in the week when it was revealed that table-setter AB Garcia would be lost for the season due to a right knee injury suffered attempting to leg out an infield hit in the second game of the UIW doubleheader.
 
AB had seven games with three or more hits this season, one being her third career four-hit game, giving her a total of 14 games in her career with more than three hits, and also posted a career-best 14-game hitting streak during the campaign. The junior centerfielder from Cypress, Texas ends the year with a .473 batting average, which is the second highest for a single-season in school history. Already second in career steals with 47, she will need just one hit and 13 runs to enter those Top 10 leaderboards as well.
 
Haylie Savage is batting .375 on the season with a team-best 27 RBI on the year to lead the Huskies offense. The senior third baseman from Angleton, Texas is one of just 10 players ever at HCU to hit the century mark in runs driven in (now at 116) and her homer at UTA made her one of just NINE players in school history with 20 career home runs.
 
She enters the weekend series with McNeese with 187 career hits, good for eighth all-time, and she is one of just six players in school history with 40 or more doubles, ranking tied for 3rd with 43. Savage is now eighth in all-time at-bats and walks while nearing the top 10 in games played and runs scored.
 
Savage has had three separate career-best nine-game hitting streaks this season, including the one she is currently on entering the weekend. She has recorded nine multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games, and currently ranks ninth in the SLC in RBI (27), sixth in doubles, seventh in batting average and eighth in both slugging and OPS.
 
Ella Herrewig is third on the club in batting at .330 and is second in runs scored and stolen bases. Maddy Bailey is batting .277  and is third on the club with 14 RBI, just behind Hanna York's 15, which is the most for a freshman since Katy Schaefer drove in 18 in 2018.
 
Two rookie hurlers continue to lead pitching staff, as Cara Pitman and Leah Hammack have combined for 11 of the team's 13 victories. The six wins by Pitman and five by Hammack are the most for a frosh hurler since Emma Guindon had nine in 2019.
 
Pitman leads the club in wins, appearances, games started, complete games and shutouts. Hammack fronts the staff in strikeouts and opponent batting average. Pitman has the team's lone save on the season and the two right-handers are separated by just one-third of an inning pitched, both north of 83 total.
 
The Huskies host longtime rival McNeese State University for three games beginning with a Friday doubleheader and a Saturday "Alumni Day" series finale at noon. The two teams have met 53 times dating all the way back to the first season of HCU softball in 1989.
 
McNeese is led by James Landreneau, now in his 13th year in Lake Charles and ninth as head coach. The Cowgirls enter the weekend with a 28-17 overall record and sit in a first-place tie with Southeastern Louisiana atop the league standings at 14-4 after sweeping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at home in their midweek series.
 
Sophomore utility player Samantha Mundine leads McNeese with a .388 batting average, 50 hits and 12 stolen bases to go with 20 RBI. Junior third baseman Jada Munoz is having a stellar campaign, batting .348 and is second in the league in homers (10) and third in runs (41), RBI (33) and OPS. Senior infielder Reese Reyna is batting .325 with five homers and 26 RBI.
 
The pitching staff features three hurlers with 27 or more appearances. Freshman right-hander Maddie Taylor is second in the league in victories, sporting a 12-6 record and 4.10 ERA in a team-high 29 outings. Frosh righty Kadence Williams is 8-7 with a 3.42 while junior southpaw Ryan Schexnayder is 4-1 with a 3.73 ERA and Southland-best six saves.
 
Following the weekend series, the Huskies will have just seven games remaining in the regular season. HCU will travel to Lamar University next weekend for a Thursday/Friday series prior to Easter Sunday. Four games in Houston will follow, with a single game across town at UH preceding the final home series of the year. The Huskies will host East Texas A&M University on April 25 and 26 at Husky Field, with the Saturday finale being "Senior Day".
 
 
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