UL co-head coach Michael Lotief said he wasn't disappointed in his UL Ragin' Cajuns softball team after losing to South Alabama 3-1 in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament finals on Saturday
UL co-head coach Michael Lotief said he wasn't disappointed in his UL Ragin' Cajuns softball team after losing to South Alabama 3-1 in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament finals on Saturday
Every school I've ever read about says hosting a regional is a must if you want your best shot at winning a regional and moving on to the World Series, be that baseball or softball. So, we build a new softball stadium and get to host a regional AND play our first game vs. MVSU, a team we beat 21-0 earllier this year. How perfect a scenario is that?
I am, therefore, perplexed why Coach Lotief would be concerned about hosting per his quotes below. Isn't this WHY we built a new stadium and isn't this what every coach wants his team to be able to do? Isn't UL's atmosphere encouraging, in fact, perhaps one of the best in the country? Why even express the concern, just call our fans out to make this the best regional atmosphere in the country?
Lotief suggested that those fixes can actually be more difficult at home than on the road if the atmosphere isn't an encouraging one. "There are definitely some challenges with hosting," Lotief said. "The distractions go way up and the scrutiny goes up. There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to hosting."
He would rather play ASU at Lamson than in Tempe. He was just reflecting that there are some negatives to being at home. None overshadow your fans creating problems for the opposing team, or having a comfort level of playing at home.
He is also projecting to the team that just because you are home is no guarantee that you will win, so compete hard. IMO
Just brought up on Bil's show. His main point is no matter what happens (bad call, errors, going down in a game, etc), he wants to galvanize the crowd so that its 3000+our team versus our opponents.
He also mentioned that the team is 2-6 in our program history when hosting, so he just wants to keep that as a warning to his players to stay focused.
We as "FANS), (short for fanatics), MUST do our jobs. LOUD and PROUD! 1st pitch to last pitch.Coach Mike has called us out. PACK the PARK !!!!
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