A throw by Runyan helped UL beat Oklahoma at the Kia Classic last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by LuLu
I wonder if she is hurt, or is it a cold bat, or something else?
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A throw by Runyan helped UL beat Oklahoma at the Kia Classic last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by LuLu
I wonder if she is hurt, or is it a cold bat, or something else?
Quote:
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UL's softball team only scored in one inning Sunday, but that was enough. And because it was enough, the Ragin' Cajuns remain in the hunt for a seventh straight Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship.
The Cajuns put up four runs in the third inning against North Texas, and followed the two-hit pitching of freshman Brittany Cuevas the rest of the way in posting a 4-2 victory over the Mean Green at UNT's Lovelace Stadium in Denton, Texas.
The win completed a three-game Sun Belt sweep for the 22nd-ranked Cajuns (42-13, 13-7) and left them one-half game behind league-leading Troy (14-7) in the conference standings with one regular-season weekend to go.
If UL sweeps its final three-game series at last-place UL Monroe Saturday and Sunday and Troy loses one of its three finale games at home against South Alabama, the Cajuns would claim the league title and the No. 1 seed for the Sun Belt Tournament May 9-12 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
"It certainly gives us a little more to play for," said Cajun coach Stefni Lotief. "It makes for an interesting last weekend."
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Cuevas (27-7), the reigning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week, allowed only two hits and fanned six while issuing seven walks. Unfortunately, the two hits were both solo home runs by Mean Green shortstop Katya Muller, the first of which gave UNT (19-34, 10-14) a 1-0 lead one batter into the bottom of the first inning.
The Cajuns responded in a big way in the third inning with a four-run uprising off UNT starter Ashley Lail (10-15). Singles by Holly Tankersley and Desi Chatman sandwiched around a walk to Lacey Bertucci loaded the bases, and Melissa Verde's ground ball plated Tankersley to tie the game.
Tara Hamilton followed with a single to give UL the lead for good, and pinch hitter Adele Files drew a bases-loaded walk to force in another run. Karli Hubbard then poked an infield single to plate Meagan Godwin for the 4-1 lead.
Muller's second homer came in the third, but Cuevas breezed the rest of the way. She got some late help when Amanda Hill came in to pitch to Muller and forced a ground ball in the seventh inning, and Cuevas came back in to record the final out.
"Brittany pitched another good game," Lotief said. "She had one hitter that gave her trouble, but Amanda came in and helped her finish up."
UL left the bases loaded two other times and ended up stranding 10 runners.
"It was a tough day to stay focused with their senior day," Lotief said. "But we found a way to get enough runs on the board. It's hard to sweep on the road, especially since we got behind twice early, but we found a way to win."
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After all the trials and tribulations and all the talk of a rebuilding year, UL's softball team is three wins and a little help away from retaining its post as the only champion in Sun Belt Conference history.
The Ragin' Cajuns travel to face struggling UL Monroe (3-18 Sun Belt) in their final league series Saturday and Sunday. If the Cajuns sweep that three-game set, they'll force Troy to do the same against South Alabama to hang on for the regular-season title.
If the Trojans slip up once, a UL sweep in Monroe would add to the regular-season crowns that the Cajuns have won each season since softball became a Sun Belt sport in 2001.
UL has also won every league tournament since that event was inaugurated in 2000 (the league played only a tournament that year before starting regular-season play in 2001), and will be one of the favorites again in this year's event May 9-12 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
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But the regular-season crown would be a nice touch.
"It's definitely something we want to continue," said UL coach Stefni Lotief. "It's one of the goals we set for our program every year."
It isn't as pressing a goal as making it to NCAA postseason play for the 17th time in 18 seasons, and one doesn't necessarily lead to the other. The Sun Belt doesn't receive an automatic NCAA bid for its tournament champion until next season, when the three-year waiting period to retain six members ends.
UL shouldn't have a problem securing an at-large postseason slot, considering the Cajuns were 20th in last week's NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
Winning or losing the league titles won't affect that ranking very much in the season's final two weeks. But that doesn't mean the Cajuns aren't interested in continuing the Sun Belt's most dominant run in any sport.
"This team has never been about who they're going up against or what someone else is doing," Lotief said. "They're more focused on doing what they do better and coming out focused on themselves every day."
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Call it the divine secrets of the rah-rah sisterhood.
Lacey Bertucci is related to long-ago president Chester A. Arthur, and one of her desires is to own and operate her own amusement park.
Desi Chatman, given her choice, would rather be watching college football or basketball, befitting her all-around athlete status.
Tara Hamilton says she's going to visit Fiji to scuba dive one day, and she's part of the way there since she's already got her scuba certification.
Different? Sure. But make no mistake, they are sisters.
"I'm leaving behind 20 sisters," Chatman said. "It's a sisterhood we have here."
"It's like our own sorority," Hamilton said of the UL softball team. "That's what I'm going to miss the most, having this kind of relationship."
Hamilton, Chatman and Bertucci are the officers of this sorority, the seniors that will likely play their final games at Lamson Park today when the Ragin' Cajuns host Nicholls State in a 4 p.m. doubleheader. It's the final regular-season home appearance for the 22nd (National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll) and 24th (USA Softball poll) ranked Cajuns.
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"Some of the other girls are already saying that they're going to miss me," Bertucci said. "I told them I didn't want to talk about it. I'm not going to face reality. I don't want to grow up, but I guess I have to."
The threesome has done a lot of growing up this season as the leaders of a squad expected to be mired in a "rebuilding" year. That was before the Cajuns started out 20-2 and put together an 8-3 record against teams ranked in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) top 20.
"We had those great early wins," Bertucci said, "and people realized we were better than they thought we'd be. We never thought about it that way. We were ranked at the start and we always thought that's where we're supposed to be."
"You never want to go out in your senior year with a rebuilding year," Hamilton said. "You want to go out on top. The 'rebuilding' went away when we beat a lot of good teams, and now we're just trying to keep getting better."
"Everybody said we were going to be young," Chatman said, "but our young players don't play like young players. They've helped us get where we need to be. At this point of the year, our freshmen are no longer freshmen."
The Cajuns (42-13) began the season with 15 first-year or redshirt freshmen on the roster, and desperately in need of leadership after the departure of several of the program's best-ever players over the past couple of seasons.
A lot of that leadership has come, ironically, from the right side of the diamond. Bertucci has been a fixture at first base for four seasons, most of Hamilton's action has been at second base and Chatman is the regular right fielder, although she's moved around the outfield with injuries forcing UL to shuffle its lineup.
Bertucci and Chatman both arrived at UL in 2003, Bertucci from Folsom and Covington High and Chatman out of Comeaux High. Hamilton, a native of Lumberton, Texas, who played one season at Wisconsin, joined the Cajuns one year later.
Bertucci played in a school-record 68 games, starting 67, as a freshman and earned second-team All-Sun Belt honors before moving up to first team the last two years. Hamilton has started 114 games over the past three years and made the Sun Belt All-Tournament team last year.
Chatman was a late bloomer after not playing high school softball, concentrating on basketball (a school record 41 points in one game) and track (state records in the shot put and discus). She did play select softball in the summer, enough to earn Most Valuable Player honors in the AFA National Tournament in 2002, and she's currently hitting a career-high .290 along with more hits (45), doubles (10), homers (eight) and RBI (35) this year than her first three years combined.
Those first three years flew by for all three. So has their senior season. But reality started setting in last Sunday, when UL was the visiting team for North Texas' Senior Day. The Cajuns finished off a three-game sweep of the Mean Green in that game.
"Holy smokes, they're out there doing that and that's us this week," Hamilton said. "That's when it started to sink in. It's the last time to do something that's been your whole life."
"It's like only a couple of days ago I was here on a recruiting visit," Bertucci said. "Now anytime I hear some of the younger girls talk about how they hope it goes by fast, I tell them they'll regret that when they're seniors."
"It's like I woke up today and I'm a senior," Chatman said. "I'm emotional, so I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. But after the game starts it'll be like any other game and let's get to work. It'll hit me later."
Nicholls State (26-24) at UL (42-13)
4 p.m. today (DH), Lamson Park
Radio: KPEL-AM (1420) with Steve Peloquin, air time 3:45p.m.
Last meeting: The teams split a doubleheader in Thibodaux earlier this season, UL winning the opener 6-1 and Nicholls taking the nightcap 61. It was UL's first loss and the Cajuns' only loss in their first 15 games.
Last time out: UL took three games at North Texas in Sun Belt Conference play, winning 6-5, 12-3 and 4-2. Nicholls State won three games at home from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Southland Conference play.
Probable pitchers: UL, Brittany Cuevas (Fr., RH, 27-7, 1.95), Holly Tankersley (Jr., RH, 12-5, 2.70) or Amanda Hill (Fr., RH, 1-0, 1.97). Nicholls State, Krystal Ensminger (12-13, 4.23) and Jessica Barksdale (Jr., 6-6, 2.42).
Top hitters: UL, DH/OF Holly Tankersley (Jr., .382, 15 HR, 50 RBI), OF/SS Karli Hubbard (So., .325, 11 RBI), 3B Melissa Verde (Fr., .301, 7 HR, 41 RBI); Nicholls State, SS/OF Kathryn Harrell (Jr., .404, 2 HR, 8 RBI), 3B Leah Peterson (Sr., .365, 11 HR, 44 RBI), 1B Amy Thibodeaux (Jr., .356, 9 HR, 39 RBI).
Lagniappe: Final regular-season home appearance for squad and seniors Lacey Bertucci, Desi Chatman and Tara Hamilton ... Regular Cajun shortstop Codi Runyan is doubtful today with a back injury and is listed as day-to-day for the weekend and next week's Sun Belt Tournament ... Kodi Butler, a former standout at St. Thomas More, is on the Nicholls roster.
Next: UL at UL Monroe Saturday, 1 p.m. doubleheader, and Sunday, noon single game, Monroe.
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MONROE - Even if it's against the bottom team in the league standings, it's never easy to win three straight games.
That's the task confronting UL's softball team this weekend, if the Ragin' Cajuns want to continue one of the program's most impressive streaks.
The Cajuns (44-13), ranked 22nd (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) and 24th (USA Softball), travel to face UL Monroe in the regular season's final series. The teams play a 1 p.m. doubleheader today and a noon Sunday single game at the ULM Softball Complex.
UL is 14-7 in Sun Belt Conference play and one-half game behind Troy (15-7) in the league standings, with Troy entertaining South Alabama (10-10) in a weekend series. The Cajuns must win one more game than the Trojans this weekend to claim the Sun Belt regular-season crown for the seventh straight year - every year the Sun Belt has included softball among its sports.
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"It's not that much pressure," said Cajun senior Lacey Bertucci. "We know we have to go out and win, but that's our plan every game. That's not in our heads. We just have to keep doing what we're doing and fight every pitch."
Whether there's fight left in the host Warhawks (23-36) remains to be seen. ULM is 3-18 in league play and is already assured of finishing ninth in the nine-team league, not qualifying for next week's eight-team Sun Belt Tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
While ULM's season ends Sunday, the Cajuns are gearing for the double-elimination league meet beginning Wednesday, with the seeds and pairings to be determined Sunday. UL - also winners of every Sun Belt Tournament since the league began tourney play in 2000 - has been the tournament's number one seed every year and can get that spot again by passing Troy in the final weekend.
"It's another three games against another team," said freshman pitcher Brittany Cuevas, "and that's all we can control. We'll go out and play strong and see what happens."
Cuevas (29-7) tossed back-to-back shutouts Wednesday night against Nicholls State in UL's final regular-season home appearance, giving up six total hits in the Cajuns' 8-0 and 9-0 wins. She struck out a season-high-tying 12 in the nightcap, and moved into UL's all-time top five in season wins and strikeouts during that game.
Cuevas, whose 29 wins are the most ever for a UL freshman, will likely start today's opener and Sunday's game. Today's second game is to be determined pending the game one outcome - and not by anything that may happen in Troy.
"We're going to go and play and let it happen, and not worry about who has to win where and all that," said senior outfielder Desi Chatman, who had a three-run homer on Senior Day Wednesday.
Whether or not UL wins the regular-season or the Sun Belt Tournament, the Cajuns are a lock for an NCAA Tournament bid (the Sun Belt winner does not earn an automatic bid until next season). Those bids will be announced on Sunday, May 13.
1 p.m. today (DH), noon Sunday, ULM Softball Complex
RADIO: None. TV: None.
LAST MEETING: UL took four wins over ULM in the 2005 season, winning twice in Lafayette (4-3, 9-0) and twice in Monroe (6-2, 9-0). The teams did not play last season. This is the first year for ULM to play in the Sun Belt Conference.
LAST TIME OUT: UL swept a home doubleheader from Nicholls State Wednesday by scores of 8-0 and 9-0. ULM hasn't played since last weekend when the Warhawks took a 3-1 series-ending win over Fla. International after losing the first two games.
PROBABLE PITCHERS: UL, Brittany Cuevas (Fr., RH, 29-7, 1.86) and Amanda Hill (Fr., RH, 1-0, 1.97). ULM, Lindsay Rittenhouse (Jr., RH, 15-18, 2.63) and Kandace Causey (Fr., RH, 2-7, 4.17).
TOP HITTERS: UL, DH/OF Holly Tankersley (Jr., .390, 16 HR, 54 RBI), OF/SS Karli Hubbard (So., .323, 11 RBI), OF Vallie Gaspard (Fr., .310, 8 RBI), 3B Melissa Verde (Fr., .302, 8 HR, 44 RBI); ULM, 2B Heather Hanson (Sr., .331, 2 HR, 14 RBI), 1B Jamie Liles (Sr., .328, 3 HR, 31 RBI), C Heather Williams (Sr., .272, 12 HR, 43 RBI).
LAGNIAPPE: UL needs a sweep of the weekend series to have a solid shot at winning the Sun Belt regular-season title, pending the outcome of Troy's home series against South Alabama. UL trails Troy by one-half game in the league standings but holds the tiebreaker advantage over the Trojans ... The Cajuns have won the last 10 meetings with UL Monroe ... Regular Cajun shortstop Codi Runyan, out for a week and a half with a back injury has been released to play and is listed as possible for the weekend and next week's Sun Belt Tournament.
NEXT: UL at Sun Belt Tournament Wednesday-Saturday, Murfreesboro, Tenn. Times and pairings will be determined after Sunday's play.
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It was not our best performance. But lady Cajuns win the 1st game 5-3..
Z.
On RaginCajun.com the Softball feed is still in the 3rd inning of Game One. Is there another feed and why do we have to depend on ULM's feed and not just have our own.
Everyone KNOW's that ULM has Crank Dialup, which I am told is slow as heck.
:D :h: :h: :D
Post what you know,
Thanks,
DaddyCajun
Cajuns won game one 5-3Quote:
Originally Posted by DaddyCajun
Troy won game one 2-0
Cajuns and ULM are tied scoreless in the top of the 5th
Troy is down 4-0 in the top of the 5th
Cajuns and Warhawks still tied at 0 going into the top of the 6th
Troy scores a single run but still trails 4-1 going into the top of the 6th
Still 0-0 heading into the top of the 7th. Cajuns need a big run!
Troy still down 5-1 now heading to top 7th also.
Melissa Verde draws a no out walk! This might get something going...
Never mind as Sigur gets caught trying to steal second as a pinch runner
Hamilton grounds out
and Godwin strikes out
Bottom of the 7th time to play some D