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UL - The 18th ranked Lady Cajuns remained perfect at Alfred and Helen Lamson Ragin’ Cajuns Softball Park with a six-inning mercy rule shutout of South Alabama. The Cajuns scored two runs in four of the six innings of the game to claim the 8-0 victory.
The win increased the Lady Cajuns’ (31-10, 9-2 Sun Belt) winning streak to a season-high 10 games. The victory also left Louisiana perfect at home with a 14-0 record. The Cajuns have now won 17 consecutive home games, dating back to the Troy series in 2007.
Ashley Brignac (River Ridge, La.) picked up her 18th win of the season and her sixth shutout as she worked the complete game. The only hit the freshman allowed in the game was a leadoff single in the first inning. Only three South Alabama batters reached second base and no batter for the visitors advanced past second. Brignac fanned seven batters on the afternoon to move her to within 10 Ks of 200 for her career (194).
Offensively, the Cajuns pounded out nine hits on the day en route to eight runs. UL received multi-hit performances from Brooke Brodhead (Lafayette, La.), Karli Hubbard (Lafayette, La.) and Holly Tankersley (Kirbyville, Texas). The trio each had two singles on the afternoon with Tankersley scoring twice; Hubbard scoring once; and Brodhead driving in a run. Tankersley also finished the day with two intentional walks.
Gabriele Bridges (Lafitte, La.) and Vanessa Soto (San Diego, Calif.) both made their only hits of the afternoon count. The tandem both belted two-run home runs for the Cajuns. The two-run shot in the first inning was Soto’s fifth, while Bridge’s bomb in third inning marked the ninth of the season for the freshman.
The Cajuns jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning. With one out, Tankersley worked the count in her favor and drew a free pass to give UL their first base runner of the day. It didn’t take long for Tankersley to come around to score as Soto roped a line drive home run off of the scoreboard in right field to give the Cajuns the early advantage.
UL added two more runs in the second inning. The Cajuns began the inning with a sharp struck ball by Brodhead down the left field line. A ground out moved Brodhead to second base and a Hubbard single put runners on the corners. Courtney Trahan (Maurice, La.) entered the game to run for Brodhead and Hubbard moved into scoring to scoring position with her 11th stolen base of the season. A single by Katie Smith (Ruston, La.) scored the first runner of the inning and a fielding error by the Jaguars scored Hubbard on the very next play.
For the third consecutive inning, the Cajuns scored two runs to increase their advantage to 6-0. Lana Bowers (Crosby, Texas) reached on a fielding error to start things off for the Cajuns. Bridges followed two batters later with her ninth home run of the season.
The Cajuns finished the game off in the bottom of the sixth inning with two more runs. Tankersley singled through the right side of the infield with one out and nobody on base. A four-pitch walk to Soto moved Tankersley into scoring position. Kelly Cormier (Abbeville, La.) followed with a two out walk of her own to load the bases for the Cajuns. A hard hit single by Brodhead bounced off of the USA third base man to plate Tankersley for the seventh run of the game. The eighth and final run of the game came on a bases loaded wide pitch, giving UL the mercy-rule victory.
The Ragin’ Cajuns softball team returns to action on Wednesday and Thursday as they host a midweek Sun Belt Conference series against defending SBC Champions Florida Atlantic. The series will begin with a doubleheader on Wednesday being at 5:00 p.m. before concluding action with the Owls with a single game on Thursday at 5:00 p.m.
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Chris Whitehead
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