The Book: Lady Cajuns softball 2007 Season

[El Sidonio]

This is VERY good. Considering the rough stretches we've endured this season, to still be in #20 RPI is outstanding. This will go a LONG way in helping us get into postseason play if we should happen to falter in the conference tourney.

Interesting question: Since our RPI will prolly be good enough to get into the NCAA tourney whether we win or lose the conf. tourney, do you think it's possible that we'd lose in the conf. tourney but still get in the NCAA, while some upstart-lotta-luck sunbelt team would win the conf. tourney but not be good enough to get into the NCAA since SBC is not yet auto bid for conf winner? Is that possible? Am I making sense? Probably not, since the work day has been long. haha.

Y'all have a good one.

God Bless

GEAUX UL RAGIN CAJUN SOFTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NewsCopy]

The NCAA's softball Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) rankings are no longer the deep, dark secret that they've been in the past, and UL coach Stefni Lotief is glad of that. "If the committee's going to use it as a tool to make decisions, it's better that it's out there," Lotief said Thursday. "Everyone can see it and everyone knows where they stand." The Ragin' Cajuns, preparing for their next-to-last Sun Belt Conference weekend of the season Saturday and Sunday at North Texas, are ranked 20th in this week's first official release of RPI ratings. This season is the first that the NCAA's RPI lists have been made public. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

UL's softball team needed big performances from one regular source and one unlikely source Saturday, and Lacey Bertucci and Amanda Hill provided those performances. Bertucci had a three-run homer to bring the Cajuns back from a 3-0 deficit, and Hill had a solid pitching performance over the final four and one-third innings as UL held on for a 6-5 victory over North Texas in the first game of their Sun Belt Conference doubleheader at UNT's Lovelace Stadium in Denton, Texas. Buoyed by that performance, UL scored six runs in the first inning of the nightcap and rolled to a 12-3 victory that boosted the Cajuns into a tie for second place in the Sun Belt standings. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[LuLu]

Did anyone notice that Codi Runyan did not play in these games?

[Turbine]

_ Did anyone notice that Codi Runyan did not play in these games? _

A throw by Runyan helped UL beat Oklahoma at the Kia Classic last year.

I wonder if she is hurt, or is it a cold bat, or something else?

[NewsCopy]

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." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

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. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

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. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

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. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[Zeebart21]

It was not our best performance. But lady Cajuns win the 1st game 5-3..

Z.