McNeese’s Piancastelli, Nicholls’ LaBure claim SLC softball weekly awards

Piancastelli becomes the Southland career RBI leader; LaBure picks up three wins in the circle

FRISCO, Texas – McNeese’s Erika Piancastelli and Nicholls’ Alexis LaBure are the Southland Conference Softball Players of the Week, the league announced Monday. Southland Conference Players of the Week are presented by UniversalCoin.com.

Piancastelli broke a McNeese and Southland record en route to a 3-1 week for the Cowgirls (27-12, 10-5 SLC), sweeping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (9-28-1, 1-14 SLC) to move into a game back from first place. LaBure added three wins to her name to help the league-leading Colonels (26-11, 11-4) to a 3-1 week, including a 2-1 series victory over Abilene Christian (13-20, 7-8 SLC) after dropping the opening game that went 15 innings. McNeese and Nicholls meet this weekend for the first time since the 2017 Southland Conference Tournament championship that saw the Cowgirls win 8-0. First pitch for this weekend is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. CT in Lake Charles.

This is Piancastelli’s second hitter award of the season after winning the award on Feb. 13. LaBure claims the Colonels’ fourth pitcher accolade of the season and second consecutive.

Softball Hitter of the Week – Erika Piancastelli, McNeese – C/3B – Sr. – Carlsbad, Calif.

The Carlsbad, Calif., product batted .667 with a .692 slugging percentage and a 1.444 on base percentage this past week. She began the week by recording the only Cowgirl hit against No. 14 LSU. She continued her hitting against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by ending the series with a .714 batting average and a 1.571 slugging percentage. Piancastelli became the McNeese career hit leader and the Southland career RBI leader with her hit and RBI to end game three and complete the series sweep. She went 6-for-9 in the series with seven RBIs, two doubles, three walks and four runs.

Honorable Mention: Moriah Strother, Nicholls; Shelby Henderson, Lamar; Kaitlyn St. Clair, Northwestern State.

Softball Pitcher of the Week – Alexis LaBure, Nicholls – Fr. – Port Neches, Texas

The freshman from Port Neches, Texas, racked up 19 strikeouts in 16.2 innings last week, going 3-0 with a 1.68 ERA. In two games against Abilene Christian on Friday, LaBure recorded 13 strikeouts out of her first 15 Wildcats retired, capped by an 11-strikeout effort in a five-inning complete game victory. She came back the next day to toss a seven-inning complete game to keep Nicholls tied for first place.

Honorable Mention: Micaela Bouvier, Northwestern State; Makayla Sikes, Stephen F. Austin; Rachel Hayes, Southeastern Louisiana; Ashley Koncir, McNeese.

Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school’s sports information director. Voting for one’s own athlete is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on at least 25 percent of ballots.