The ULM softball team had plenty of energy to feed off of heading into its home finale against Florida Atlantic Wednesday afternoon.
The Warhawks already had won the series with two wins Tuesday, including an extra-inning victory in Game 2, but they could not clinch the sweep with a 6-3 loss to the Lady Owls Wednesday.
"We would have loved to have had a sweep, but it just wasn't there today," head coach Rosemary-Holloway Hill said.
The head coach, who is in her 27th year with the program, was honored prior to the game for recently clinching her 700th career win.
Athletics director Bobby Staub presented Holloway-Hill with a plaque and flowers as her players chanted, "700".
The team wore pink in honor of breast cancer awareness, and head basketball coach Keith Richard's wife Holly ? a breast cancer survivor ? threw out the first pitch of the game.
"It was absolutely phenomenal," Holloway-Hill said. "The people who came out today, our girls and all of us were very, very excited.
"I thought about the special occasion of honoring me, and I hate that had to happen because I didn't want anything getting in the way of this breast cancer awareness because we've been wanting to do that for some time."
Florida Atlantic (14-34, 4-15) scored the first run of the game in the first inning when designated pitcher Jordan Stovall hit a two-out double to left field off ULM starter Haylie Wilson.
Owls' third baseman Alex Ballard knocked Stovall in with a single to right field for the first run of the game.
ULM quickly answered back, though, with two runs in the bottom of the frame with a two-RBI double to left field by catcher Roxy Cassel.
The Warhawks (23-22, 8-13) added another run in the second inning when Mackenzie Miller hit a one-out single to left field.
Shortstop Kayla Boening scored Miller with a double to center field, but it would be the last ULM run of the game.
Florida Atlantic plated four runs in the top of the third on back-to-back home runs by Stephanie Call and Lauren Tremblay to retake the lead 6-3, which would end up being the final. Unlike the night before, the Warhawks could not rally back from a three-run hole.
"It's about having each other's back," Holloway-Hill said.
"We didn't offensively get all the runs we needed to get to put her (Wilson) in a better position so when you give up those back-to-back home runs there not quite so damaging, but she took it on the chin."
ULM did take the series from FAU for the first time since joining the Sun Belt in 2007.
The series win guarantees the Warhawks a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in two weeks.
ULM will first close out its regular season at conference-leader ULL next weekend.
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