Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score | Season Stats
 
HAMMOND, La. – The Missouri State softball Bears dropped a pair of hard-fought contests on opening day of the 2023 season here Friday.
 
The Bears (0-2) fell 8-3 to Nicholls in the season opener, despite some early fireworks from McKenzie Vaughan, before dropping a 2-1 decision to tournament host Southeastern Louisiana in Game Two at the Lion Classic I.
 
Missouri State will get another crack at the same two teams on Saturday, squaring off with Nicholls on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., before a 3 p.m. rematch with Southeastern Louisiana. The second game of the day will air on ESPN+.
 
 
Game 1 – Nicholls 8, Missouri State 3
Missouri State got off to a quick start in the first game of the season as sophomore McKenzie Vaughan got the Bears on the board first in the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run to center field.
 
Despite holding the early lead and not allowing a hit through the first two innings, the Bears were unable to fend off the Nicholls offense. The Colonels responded with a couple of three-run frames in the third and fifth innings to take and extend the lead over MSU.
 
MSU allowed three runs on three hits, including a two-run triple, in the third inning as Nicholls took a 3-1 lead over the Bears at North Oak Park. Nicholls tacked on the ultimate game-winning run in the fourth after hitting a leadoff double, followed by a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly to score the runner.
 
The Bears cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth following an Annie Mueller leadoff walk to start the inning. Freshman Abby Ford then came into the game as a pinch runner and stole second, advancing to third on a throwing error by the catcher. In the next at-bat, Kat Taylor recorded an RBI groundout to score Ford and make it a 4-2 ballgame in favor of the Colonels.
 
However, Nicholls swiped the momentum away with four runs across the fifth and sixth innings. The Colonels scored three runs on three hits and a Missouri State error in the fifth, before knocking a couple of doubles in the sixth to score their eighth run of the contest.
 
Missouri State loaded the bases in the seventh courtesy of a single, walk and hit by pitch with the Bears scoring their third run on a McKayla Carney RBI-groundout. Unfortunately, that would be it for MSU in the seventh as they suffered an 8-3 loss in the season opener.
 
 
Game 2 – Southeastern Louisiana 2, Missouri State 1
 
In the nightcap, Southeastern Louisiana rode the momentum of a two-run home run in the bottom of the second to edge the Bears, 2-1.
 
Audrey Greely's blast off Bears' starter McKenzie Vaughan was all the scoring SLU would need to secure the one-run victory.
 
Southeastern starter K.K. Ladner threw 3.0 innings with 4 strikeouts, before Cera Blanchard (1-0) finished things out with 4.0 scoreless innings of work, also registering 4 strikeouts and allowing 3 hits and a walk.
 
McKayla Carney drove in Missouri State's only run of the ball game, raching on a fielder's choice in third to plate Kenzie Derryberry. Carney's base hit made it a 2-1 game, but the Bears could not catch the home club, stranding runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth.
 
Vaughan (0-1) went the distance for MoState, allowing 6 hits and striking out 4 with no walks in 6.0 innings in the circle.