The University of Louisiana softball team will get its sixth straight Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship trophy Wednesday night in Miami, Fla., during a banquet prior to the league tournament.

But the Ragin' Cajuns essentially put a grip on that award Sunday at approximately 12:02 p.m.

That's when senior second baseman and leadoff hitter Brittany Bryant lifted Middle Tennessee pitcher Samantha Floyd's fifth offering of the game over the left-field fence.

It was 5-0 before the host Blue Raiders recorded an out, it was 10-0 after two innings and the Cajuns wound up with a five-inning, 11-0 victory at MT's Blue Raider Field. The win completed a three-game weekend sweep for the Cajuns (45-10, 12-3).

More importantly, Sunday's run-rule victory continued UL's streak of claiming every Sun Belt softball title in league history. The Cajuns won the first crown in 2000 in a tournament, and have won every regular-season title since the league began round-robin play in 2001.

The Cajuns pounded out 16 hits, their third-highest total of the season, in taking their 28th win in 28 all-time meetings with Middle Tennessee (19-40-1, 6-9). Every starter collected at least one hit and four players - Ashley Evans, Holly Tankersley, Jessica Lemoine and Codi Runyan - had two runs batted in.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com