The 2023 Southland Conference tournament was held at Joe Miller Field on the campus of McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, from May 9 through 13, 2023. The tournament winner, McNeese, earned the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division I softball tournament. All games were broadcast on ESPN+.
Format The tournament was a 7 team double elimination format. The top seeded team, McNeese, received a bye in first round competition.
Seeds Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tie–breaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. The top seven teams in the conference qualify for the tournament. Tiebreakers were not needed in 2023. SeedSchoolConference1 McNeese 21–32 Southeastern Louisiana 19–53 Nicholls 13–114 Lamar 12–125 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 11–136 Northwestern State 10–147 Houston Christian 9–15 Incarnate Word and Texas A&M–Commerce did not qualify for the tournament. New Orleans does not sponsor a softball team.
Tournament Source: Round GameTime*MatchupScoreAttendance NotesTelevisionFirst day – Tuesday, May 9, 2023111:30 pmNo. 4 Lamar vs. No. 5 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi 2–3 Not recordedESPN+24:25 pmNo. 2 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 7 Houston Christian 7–1 Not recorded Rain delay; Game resumed at 7:35 pm38:40 pmNo. 3 Nicholls vs. No. 6 Northwestern State 2–8 457 Start delayed due to rainSecond day – Wednesday, May 10, 2023241:30 pm No. 5 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi vs. No. 1 McNeese1–2Not recordedDelayed; rainESPN+55:32 pm No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 6 Northwestern State 13–1(5) 394 Game started 30 minutes after game 4 conclusionThird day– Thursday, May 11, 20232611:00 am No. 7 Houston Christian vs. No. 3 Nicholls 1–2 Not recorded Elimination gameESPN+71:30 pm No. 4 Lamar vs. No. 6 Northwestern State 5–4 Not recorded Elimination game84:00 pm No. 5 Texas A&M–Corpus Christi vs. No. 3 Nicholls 0–1 Not recorded Elimination game96:30 pm No. 1 McNeese vs. No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana 6–2 528Fourth day – Friday, May 12, 202331011:00 pm No. 3 Nicholls vs. No. 4 Lamar 4–5 Not recorded Elimination GameESPN+111:30 pm No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana vs. No. 4 Lamar 8–0(5) 363 Elimination GameChampionship – Saturday, May 13, 202341212:00 pm No. 1 McNeese vs. No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana 1– 0(8) 607ESPN+132:30 pm Rematch (if necessary) – Not necessary*Game times in CDT. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Awards and honors
Tournament MVP: Reese Reyna, McNeese
All-Tournament Teams: Source: Reese Reyna, McNeese - MVP Mariana Torres, McNeese Alayis Seneca, McNeese Whitney Tate, McNeese Ashley Vallejo, McNeese Madison Rayner, Southeastern Lexi Johnson, Southeastern Audrey Greely, Southeastern Ka’Lyn Watson, Southeastern KK Ladner, Southeastern Cameron Niedenthal, Lamar Alexa Poche’, Nicholls
See also 2023 Southland Conference baseball tournament
References