The Lady Bears were hoping to get off on the right foot to open the 2023 slate as
they made the hour and a half trip down to Baton Rouge to face BRCC. And even
though Southwest put up a fight, the visitor Lady Bears were unable to pull it out
in the end losing Game 1 10-9 in 10 innings and Game 2 12-4 to the host Lady
Bears.
“I can’t say enough about the effort from our hitters, pitchers everyone,”
Southwest head coach Shea Johnson said.
Johnson shined light on his Game 1 starter Mia Pumila who had an efficient
outing. The sophomore from Metairie, LA gave up only six hits, three walks and
one earned run over 5.0 innings of work.
Afterwards, the bullpen couldn’t follow suit. “We went through the bullpen and
couldn’t get the outs,” Johnson said.
Southwest (0-2) struck first in the top of the second as Anne Claire Sistrunk
launched a line drive shot over the center field wall with a runner on putting
Southwest ahead 2-0.
That lead grew by two the following inning. Lilli Robertson and Londyn Robertson
both scored on a BRCC error.

In the fourth, Madi Smith made her presence known with a double to left bringing
Shaylee Ingram home pushing the Southwest lead to 5-0.
Pumila closed out her last full inning of work, retiring BRCC in order in the bottom
of the fifth.
She was replaced early in the sixth and not long afterward, Southwest lost
momentum. BRCC rallied to pull within three in the bottom of the seventh before
a heart-breaking three-run home run from the hosts tied the game and forced
extra innings.
Despite taking one run advantages in both the eighth and ninth innings,
Southwest couldn’t hang on to the leads. And after not being able to score in the
10 th , BRCC pushed the winning run across on a bases loaded walk to seal the
Game 1 win.
Sistrunk led Southwest with two hits and three RBIs.
In Game 2, Southwest was mostly held in check offensively. Rowan Braley led the
charge with two hits and two runs scored. One of her two hits was a triple. Lilli
Robertson, Morgan Gras and Kacey Stampley each had a double and an RBI.
However, their success was not enough to match the host Lady Bears.
BRCC grabbed a two-run advantage in the first and even though Southwest drew
even in the top of the third, the hosts posted three runs in the bottom half of the
fourth and fifth innings to pull away and hand Southwest the loss.