BATON ROUGE, La. – In the opening weekend of softball play the Prairie View A&M Southwestern Athletic Conference championship softball team picked up a 7-1 win over Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Howard, during the Chef Celeste Softball Challenge on Friday.
 
Senior Laurisa Hernandez was 1-3 with two RBI, while freshman Megan Jimenez went 1-4 adding two RBI.  Freshman Brelyn Senegal led the team with two runs scored going 2-2 in her debut as a Lady Panther. Junior pitcher Crystal Castillo had four strikeouts and allowed only five hits, one walk and one run through seven innings of play.
 
PVAMU posted two runs during the top half of the first inning, after senior Shelby Williams singled up the middle to get on base.  Williams stole base, before a triple was hit by Senegal sending S. Williams home for the first Lady Panther's score of the game.  Senior Destinee Williams was walked during the next play, stealing second allowing Senegal to cross the plate for run number two and giving the Lady Panthers an early 2-0 lead.
 
In the top half of the third inning, Senegal was walked and then advanced to second on a pass ball.  D. Williams was walked and Hernandez reached base on a fielder's choice advancing D. Williams to her next base.  Senegal was put out at third.  Both Williams and Hernandez each earned a base on a passed ball, before a triple to center field by Jimenez, scoring the two seniors and extending the Lady Panthers lead to 4-0 over the Bison's.
 
Howard scored a run in the bottom half of the third inning, as PVAMU responded with another run in their top half of the fourth. Kiara Ross led the inning with a walk, before advancing to second base on sac-bunt by junior Cameron Lavergne. S. Williams reached base on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on the throw scoring Ross, who also advanced on the throw to give PVAMU a 5-1 lead.   
 
Prairie View A&M added their final runs of the game in the top of the sixth as Lavergne singled up the middle to get on base first.  Lavergne then advanced to second after S. Williams was put out on a ground ball to the second baseman.  Lavergne took advantage of a passed ball to move her to third base, before Senegal reached base on a hit by pitch advancing to second on the throw.  D. Williams was walked for a second time, before Hernandez singled down the right field line scoring both Senegal and Lavergne and advancing D. Williams to third base to close out the inning with two more runs and taking the 7-1 win.
 
The Lady Panthers will start off day two of the tournament when they face North Carolina Central, Saturday, Feb 9 for a noon first pitch. The team will play host team Southern in the night cap at 6 p.m.