At a time when Southwest needed to get back to playing its brand of softball, the Lady Bears displayed an all-around effort Saturday in a sweep of visiting Coahoma, defeating the Lady Tigers 17-0 in Game 1 and 16-3 in Game 2.

"Any sweep in our conference is a great sweep," Southwest head coach Shea Johnson said. "I really feel good about where we are at and how we are playing. They stayed in the game and did what they had to do. You want your kids to stay focused."

The Lady Bears (10-18, 4-6 MACCC) set the tone early thanks in large part to the pitching of starter Corin Talbot. The freshman from Houma, LA struck out two of the first four batters she faced and didn't allow a run.

She got help from her offense in the bottom half of the first. With two on and one out, Talbot reached on an error, which allowed Liberty Gillihan to score. Next up was Allie Ladnier who singled in Alyssa Leggett and Talbot, increasing the Lady Bear lead to 3-0.

Kate Clements and Abbey Pevey kept the rally going with RBI singles before Erin Acey joined the fray with one of her own, scoring Lauryn Roebuck, making the score 6-0.

Later in the inning, after Acey and Magie Wilks scored on passed balls, Gillihan homered to right increasing the Southwest lead to 9-0.

Talbot continued to shine in the circle striking out three of the four batters she faced in the second before adding one strikeout in the third and two in the fourth.

The offense added six more runs in the bottom half of the fourth on a Coahoma error, and RBI single from Ladnier, a sacrifice fly from Abbey Pevey and a two-run home run from Lauryn Roebuck to make the score the eventual final.

Talbot came back on in the fifth and recorded another three strikeouts to seal the win for Southwest.

Talbot pitched 5.0 innings, giving up only four hits, no runs and one walk while striking out 11.

Ladnier had two hits, two runs scored and three RBIs while Gillihan had two hits, three runs scored and two RBIs.

In Game 2, the duo of starter Ladnier and Skye Sharp shined for Southwest in the circle as they combined to five up only three hits, three runs (two earned) and three walks while striking out seven.

Ladnier got off to a fast start striking out three of the first four batters she faced before the offense went to work in the bottom half of the first.

The spark to a six-run first inning came from Leggett who batted from the No. 3 spot in the lineup and showed why, launching a ball over the left field wall for a two-run home run, kick-starting the offense.

"I rushed my first few at bats (in Game 1) and was not selective with my pitches so when I went up to the plate, I said 'wait for your pitch'," Leggett said. "I got a 2-1 count and I had to hit this one if it is there and it went out."

Leggett's home run was immediately followed by singles from Talbot and Ladnier with the latter's, scoring another run making it a 3-0 game. Later in the inning, a passed ball and bases loaded walks to Gabby Carr and Gillihan pushed the Southwest lead to 6-0.

A Clements sacrifice fly in the second added a seventh run before another big rally in the third. The Lady Bears scored eight runs, highlighted by RBI singles from Gillihan and Wilks and an RBI double from Ladnier making it a 15-0 game.

Coahoma pushed two runs across in the fourth and it was answered with one run from Southwest in the bottom half of the inning when Acey singled in Tye Boone.

The Lady Tigers added one more in the fifth before Sharp closed the door on Coahoma preserving the win for the hosts.

Acey, Wilks, Gillihan, Leggett and Ladnier all had two RBIs to lead the Lady Bears.

Southwest will be back in action on Tuesday, visiting East Central at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.