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For each of the past 10 years, Melissa Verde and her father have traveled to Oklahoma City to watch the nation's best collegiate softball teams compete in the Women's College World Series.
The dynamics of this year's trip to ASA Hall of Fame Stadium will be a little different for UL's sophomore third baseman. Instead of watching from the stands, she and her Ragin' Cajuns teammates will be one of eight teams on the field playing for a national championship.
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080529/SPORTS/805290304/1006/rss02" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Joshua Parrott •
jparrott@theadvertiser.com • May 29, 2008
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"You always go and see those girls and wish you could be there and how great it would be to experience it, and now you're here," Verde said. "When you're a little girl you always dream of doing this."
Thus, the dream continues as 16th-ranked UL (51-13) begins the final leg of a season-long journey that started in the dog days of August. The unseeded Cajuns fulfill a dream held my many and realize by few at noon today against top-ranked and top-seeded Florida (67-3). The game will air live on ESPN as the World Series runs through June 4.
"Every girl dreams of going to the College World Series," said UL's senior shortstop Brooke Brodhead. "We've believed in each other and believed in the coaches and made this dream come true."
The road to Oklahoma City has been filled with obstacles this year, notably No. 9 national seed LSU in the Baton Rouge Regional and No. 8 seed Houston in Super Regionals. But with each hurdle the Cajuns have grown closer and worked through it for the program's fifth World Series berth - and first since 2003.
Before the season started, the returning players accepted two senior transfers in Brodhead (McNeese State) and second baseman Vanessa Soto (LSU).
Sophomore pitcher Brittany Cuevas, the team's ace with 31 victories and 303 strikeouts last year, was slowed for most of the regular season with a shoulder injury. That allowed Brignac and fellow freshman Donna Bourgeois to assume the top two spots in the rotation and go a combined 46-10 with a 1.18 ERA.
Now Cuevas is back, giving the Cajuns the most quality depth in this year's World Series.
"This is what we've been fighting for all year," said UL's freshman pitcher Ashley Brignac. "This is where we wanted to be. We wanted to end our season on that field."
Third baseman Melissa Verde tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee while chasing down a foul ball in a March 20 exhibition game against Team USA. After sitting out more than a dozen games, the sophomore decided to delay surgery until the summer and returns to the field wearing a brace.
After enduring a 3-for-23 slump when she returned, Verde ties the Sun Belt Conference Tournament record with eight RBIs and hits huge homers in postseason wins against LSU and Houston.
Outfielders Katie Smith (concussion) and Holly Tankersley (pneumonia) both miss time with injuries but made quick recoveries.
Without the slew of injuries that resulted in two losses in last year's College Station Regional, the Cajuns have developed a potent lineup with a different player capable of carrying the load on a given night.
Tankersley, named the Sun Belt's player of the year, ranks among the national leaders with a .452 batting average, 21 homers and 72 RBIs. Soto, the Sun Belt's newcomer of the year, has also swung a strong bat, hitting .340 with 22 doubles and 65 RBIs.
Those two lead the Cajuns today against one of the nation's top pitchers in Stacey Nelson. The junior is 45-3 with a 0.73 ERA. She's given up only two earned runs and struck out 39 in 41.2 innings in NCAA Tournament play.
The Cajuns dominated the Sun Belt this year but also went 7-7 against nationally ranked opponents, including two narrow exhibition losses to Team USA.
"We've faced a lot of good pitching throughout the year," said UL's Michael Lotief, who shares coaching duties with wife Stefni. "We've just got to stay confident and trust in what we've been doing."
Florida coach Tim Walton, a friend of the Lotiefs for more than a decade, knows what to expect from the Cajuns.
"If I wasn't the coach we'd probably be overlooking them," Walton said. "But the great thing for us is that I know who the Ragin' Cajuns are. Before the SEC was the SEC, UL was the team in the South.
"They've always had a great team and a great program."
But Michael Lotief, who got this far at UL in 2003, knows the odds of getting to Oklahoma City are slim. The Cajuns are the lone school from a non-BCS conference this year in the World Series.
Lotief is keeping his cool with plenty of work left to be done for the program's first national title.
"I'm happy, but there's going to be plenty of time to sit on the beach, cross your legs, pop a cold one and reminisce," he said. "Trust me I'll soak this up forever. But for now we're on to the next step."
So is Tankersley, who has stayed relatively calm throughout the season. That included last weekend when the Cajuns won Super Regional against Houston.
"I think it's a matter of just keeping everything bottled up," Tankersley said. "We're going to the College World Series, and I think I'm saving the celebration for the championship."
Another dream the Cajuns hope to realize in Oklahoma City.
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