When the University of Louisiana softball team opens play today in the Sun Belt Conference Championship, it enters the event with the league's top two pitchers.

That's right. The team that hit 60 points higher than any other conference team, one that led the country in scoring and ranked second nationally in home runs and slugging percentage, also had the only two pitchers to finish the season with as many as 20 wins and with ERA's of less than 2.00.

Making things even more difficult for the rest of the league this weekend, Ashley Kirchberg and Krystal Lewallen provide a stark contrast in styles.

"She's good at up and out," Lewallen said of Kirchberg. "I'm good at in and off-speed."

"We can throw them off-guard," Kirchberg said. "We're different and we have different styles, and hitters aren't going to know what to expect from game to game."

The two will likely divide duties this weekend when tournament play begins today at Florida International's University Park. The top-seeded Cajuns (45-10) open play at 5:30 p.m. (CDT) against the winner of the Middle Tennessee-Troy 12:30 p.m. first-round game.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com