Cowgirls take down Minnesota in an NCAA Regional thriller

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - The McNeese Cowgirls softball team beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers 5-4 in a 13-inning marathon of a game.

The Golden Gophers got on the board first in the bottom of the second off of a third base error by Rylie Bouvier, but the Cowgirls responded the very next inning with a sacrifice fly by Reese Reyna that brought in Alayis Seneca to tie the game up 1-1.

Minnesota would snatch the lead right back from a Kayla Chavez home run in the bottom of the third to go back up one over the Cowgirls

McNeese just an inning later would respond once again to the Golden Gophers successful inning as Bouvier in the top of the fourth cracked a deep home run to right field that brought in two runs to give the Cowgirls their first lead of the game.

No team would score in the fifth inning, and it seemed like McNeese might be able to scoot by late in the game, but Minnesota’s Taylor Krapf tied the game back up in the sixth with a RBI single.

What happened from that point on in the game can only be described as a defensive masterpiece by both teams as the game would go through six extra innings of softball.

At the top of the 13th, the Cowgirls finally broke the silence as both Mariana Torres and Bouvier would crack through back-to-back RBIs to give McNeese its second lead of the game.

Minnesota made it interesting in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run by Natalie DenHartog, but the Cowgirls held on as they topped the Golden Gophers by one run in extra innings.

McNeese will be back in action Saturday at 4 PM, as they will take on either the Washington Huskies or Northern Colorado Bears in the regional’s winners bracket.

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