Brooke Ellestad and Sam Landry Claim SBC Weekly Awards

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The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns swept the Sun Belt Conference Softball weekly awards with third baseman Brooke Ellestad claiming SBC Player of the Week and pitcher Sam Landry capturing SBC Pitcher of the Week, the conference office announced on Tuesday (April 2, 2024).

Ellestad batted .583, slugged three home runs and totaled 10 RBI in Louisiana's three-game sweep of App State in Boone, North Carolina. She posted a multiple-hit and multiple-RBI performance in all three games.

The 10 RBI increased her Sun Belt-play leading total to 19 and marked the most recorded by a Cajun in an SBC series since the 2017 season (DJ Sanders, 10 RBI at Texas State).

Ellestad started the series with home runs in her first two trips to the plate producing five (5) RBI in leading Louisiana to a 5-2 lead after four innings. Ellestad rounded out the series with each one of her final four base hits resulting in at least one run produced.

Landry played a factor in all three games of Louisiana's sweep at App State, recording a pair of wins and a save as the Cajuns continued their best start in SBC play since 2019. She struck out 11 and limited the Mountaineers to five hits and a .139 average over 11 innings pitched.

She held App State in check for the 4-1/3 innings worked during her start in the series opener, facing just four over the minimum as UL built a 7-2 lead. Landry closed the series with 6-2/3 innings of one-hit shutout relief and eight strikeouts spread over games two and three.

The exclamation point of Landry's performance in Boone was effectively neutralizing the Mountaineers offense in the series finale, taking over in the third inning and pitching no-hit softball until a two-out single in the seventh.

Ellestad is shining in her Sun Belt debut season, entering Week 4 of league play with a blistering .552 average (16-of-29) and a league-best 19 RBI in conference play. Landry is off to a 6-0 start in SBC play, improving to 25-1 lifetime in the league, and has yielded just eight runs and a .164 average over 33-1/3 innings.

Louisiana, which has received at least one SBC Player and Pitcher of the Week award since the inception of the league in 2000, now owns 101 Sun Belt Player of the Week awards and 99 Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week awards in program history.

For Landry (13-6, 2.22 ERA), she collected her second SBC Pitcher of the Week award of the 2024 season (also won on March 19) and the sixth overall in her career. Ellestad (.337, 6 HR, 25 RBI) earned her first SBC weekly award as a Ragin' Cajun.

The Ragin' Cajuns (24-13, 9-0 SBC), winners of 15 of their last 16 games and the lone unbeaten in Sun Belt play, return home to Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park for Alumni Weekend scheduled for Friday-Sunday, April 5-7 vs. James Madison.

The Ragin' Cajuns will be honoring the Women's College World Series teams (1993, 1995, 1996, 2003, 2008, 2014) on Saturday (April 6) with a representative from each squad throwing out a ceremonial first pitch.

The UL-JMU three-game Sun Belt Conference series begins on Friday, April 5 at 6:00 p.m.

Louisiana Athletics
RaginCajuns.com
PRESS RELEASE

Congratulations to both ladies. They both certainly deserve the awards.

Excellent performances by the young ladies. Congrats to both.

These two are most deserving of the Sun Belt Honors. Let's hope this is not the last time the Sun Belt sees how magnificent their softball prowess is.