The Lady Cajuns Softball Season starts Today
Louisiana’s Lady Cajuns softball team kicks off the 2008 season on Saturday morning in Ruston, La. at the Louisiana Tech Invitational. The Lady Cajuns will begin the tournament against ULM at 10:30 a.m. before taking on tournament-host Louisiana Tech at 1:00 p.m.
UL battles the Lady Techsters on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. to conclude the tournament.
“It is the start of the season – ready or not,” co-head coach Michael Lotief commented. “It is time to get started and measure ourselves against some outside competition. Enough talking and enough speculating; it’s time to find out where we are at and work to get better.
“We played some good teams on the road in the fall so I don’t anticipate being on the road being any more difficult of an obstacle as playing at home,” Lotief remarked about opening the season on the road. “Now, there are going to be some first time freshmen with a learning curve trying to mentally prepare for the game and overcoming jitters, but there is no question physically that we are ready.”
The Ragin’ Cajuns softball team enters the season ranked No. 24 in the NFCA’s preseason softball poll after finishing the 2007 unranked. The Cajuns were also ranked according to the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Preseason Poll, entering the list ranked No. 20.
The Cajuns are starting the season on the road for the first time since 2004. UL started the 2004 campaign at the ULM Mardi Gras Classic in Monroe, La. The Cajuns finished the tournament 3-1 beating Kentucky, Gardner-Webb and tournament host ULM. The Ragin’ Cajuns only miscue in the tournament was a 4-1 loss to Georgia Tech. Following the loss, the Cajuns rattled off 18 consecutive wins en route to a school record 60 wins.
QUICK HITS:
Top-50: The Amateur Softball Association, the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, has selected its initial “Watch List” for the 7th Annual USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year Award. Among those listed was Louisiana designated player Holly Tankersley (Kirbyville, Texas).
Young Cajuns: This season the Ragin’ Cajuns have only five (5) players on their 25 player roster that are either a junior or a senior (4 seniors; 1 junior). The other 20 players are all freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores.
Coaching Milestones: Co-head coach Stefni Lotief enters her eighth season at the helm of the Cajuns’ softball program. Stefni Lotief enters the season with 355 career victories, just 45 wins shy of 400 for her career. Co-head coach Michael Lotief enters his sixth season with 254 victories, 46 shy of 300 career wins.
Familiar Face/New Title: Saturday’s season opener marks the first game as an assistant coach for Joy Webre. The first-year assistant was a catcher for the Cajuns’ softball team from 2002-2005. Webre holds the all-time Cajuns record for putouts with 1,818.
RaginCajuns.com
Chris Whitehead
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Re: The Lady Cajuns open the 2008 softball season on Saturday morning in Ruston
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Re: The Lady Cajuns Softball Season starts Today
