Lamar sports information

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Paige Holmes drove in two runs, while Shelby Henderson hit her third home run of the year as the Lamar softball team ran its winning streak to three games with an 8-6 victory over Alcorn State on Sunday to close out play at the Bulldog Slamboree hosted by Mississippi State.

LU went 3-2 on the weekend, bouncing back from close losses to Mercer and 25th-ranked Mississippi State.

The Cardinals (10-9) rapped out 11 hits on the day, four of them for extra bases. Maddy Myers and Shannon Klaus each had a double for LU, while Henderson had a triple to go along with her home run.

The Cardinals escaped what appeared to be an early 2-0 deficit after Alcorn’s Victoria Tyler hit what seemed to be a two-out, two-run home run, only to see the inning end when the lead baserunner was called out for not touching home plate.

LU took full advantage of the miscue, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first, thanks to two hits, two walks, two errors and two wild pitches. Kelly Meeuwsen had an RBI single to open the scoring. Klaus had an RBI double in the frame.

Alcorn (1-14) pulled to within 3-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the third only to see LU reply with four runs in the bottom of the third for a 7-2 lead.

Henderson opened the LU third with a solo home run to left field. It was her third homer of the season, tying Meeuwsen for the team lead. Henderson leads the team with 14 RBIs. Holmes had a two-run single in the inning for the Cardinals.

Alcorn cut the LU lead to 7-4 in the top of the fifth before the Cards responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth on a Kendall Talley single to make it 8-4. Alcorn scored twice more in the top of the seventh, but stranded the tying run on first base.

“I’ll take three wins,” LU coach Holly Bruder said. “I think we should have been 4-1, but we responded well after our losses. I saw some good things this weekend.”

Freshman Taylor Gruell (3-1) picked up the win in relief of starter Laura Napoli. Gruell allowed five hits and four runs, three earned, over four innings. She walked two and struck out two. Napoli went the first three innings, allowing four hits and two runs, both earned. She walked two and struck out three.

Mariah Ortiz and Taylor Hughes each had two hits and two RBIs for Alcorn.

LU returns home to host Penn State in a non-conference game at 4 p.m. Wednesday before opening Southland Conference play with a three-game weekend series at Northwestern State.