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Two and through.
No one expected UL's 23rd-ranked softball team to make this early a departure from the Sun Belt Conference tournament, especially since the Ragin' Cajuns had never lost a game in the event's history.
Thursday morning, they lost for the second time in less than 24 hours, falling to sixth-seeded Western Kentucky, 4-1, in an elimination game at Middle Tennessee's Blue Raider Complex in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
That loss left the Cajuns (46-16) as the first team eliminated from the tournament - one they had won every year since it was inaugurated in 2000 - and left UL in question of receiving an at-large bid when the NCAA tournament field is announced Sunday afternoon.
The loss also meant that UL went 0-2 in the tournament against teams they swept during the regular season.
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/SPORTS/705110332/1006" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com
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Western Kentucky (29-31), meanwhile, lives to battle another day and will face North Texas in another elimination game at 10 a.m. today. Finals are set for Saturday afternoon,with the league now crowning a team other than UL for the first time in its history.
Much like Wednesday's 6-5 loss to seventh-seeded North Texas, the Cajuns were their own worst enemy Thursday. The Cajuns out-hit the Lady Toppers, 7-5, but stranded 11 runners, including leaving the bases loaded twice.
WKU scored all of its runs in the fifth inning off Cajun freshman starter Brittany Cuevas (31-9). The highlight was a three-run homer with two outs by senior outfielder Alana Towns over the left-field wall.
"Words can't explain how that felt," Towns said. "I was halfway to second when I saw the umpire waving his arm."
That hit was enough for pitcher Jennifer Kempf (20-18), who scattered seven hits and gave up a lone unearned run while fanning nine. Except for the home run, Cuevas was equal to the task, striking out eight. But her teammates couldn't generate any offense after the first inning when Melissa Verde doubled off the wall in center field to score Holly Tankersley.
That 1-0 lead held up until the fifth when Renikka Toliver, Rachelle Boucher and Sam Cronk all had two-out singles, Toliver scoring on shortstop Karli Hubbard's error. Towns followed with her fifth homer of the year.
"It was incredible to see our two seniors (Toliver and Towns) come through," said WKU coach Rachel Lawson. "Louisiana-Lafayette is a great team, and I was proud to see our team battle with them. But the two seniors were just clutch."
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