UL - Louisiana continues Sun Belt Conference softball action this weekend.

The Lady Cajuns close out the week with a three-game weekend series with FIU. The Cajuns and Golden Panthers open the series with a doubleheader on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Game one of the doubleheader will be the CST Sun Belt Conference TV Game of the Week. UL and FIU will close out the weekend with single game at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.

The Lady Cajuns enter the week ranked No. 20 according to the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll. UL is also receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.

The Lady Cajuns enter the week on a four-game winning streak. Louisiana downed in-state rival McNeese State, 10-0, before sweeping a Sun Belt Conference series with Middle Tennessee on Tuesday and Wednesday. Three of the four victories were mercy-rule wins, while three of the games were shutouts. UL has not allowed an earned run in 32 innings, dating back to Mar. 21 in the second game of a doubleheader with Western Kentucky.

Offensively, the Lady Cajuns have been rolling. Against the Cowgirls, Louisiana collected 11 hits, including a pair of extra-base hits from Lana Bowers. Bowers hit her second home run of the season in the Cajuns’ five-run third inning and collected her seventh double of the year as well. Christi Orgeron added a double in the game, while Karli Hubbard and Erikka Murphy each added a pair of hits each. Bowers led the team with three RBI on the day, while Codi Runyan followed with two runs batted in.

The Lady Cajuns batted .429 (36-for-84) as a team against Middle Tennessee. Louisiana collected eight extra-base hits on the weekend, hitting five home runs, two doubles and a triple. UL scored 30 runs against the Blue Raiders and stole nine bases.

In the last five games, the Ragin’ Cajuns are hitting .376 as a team with a .537 slugging percentage and a .436 on-base percentage. Over that stretch, the Cajuns have collected 56 hits with 11 extra base hits (six home runs, a triple, and four doubles). UL has scored 40 runs with 35 RBI. The team has drawn 15 walks and stolen a dozen bases.

Scouting the Opposition
FIU (19-20) took 2-of-3 from North Texas to win their first Sun Belt Conference series of the season. The two wins on the road improved FIU’s away record to 6-3. Two of the losses were to No. 1 Florida a week ago. Senior Kim Rodriguez, who was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week, led the way this weekend with an 8-for-12 performance including her team-leading fifth home run of the season. Her homer also tied the school record for home runs in a career joining Monique White with 31. After Rodriguez homered, * Welch did the same for back-to-back blasts, her second of the season. Junior Kasey Barrett pitched her 10th and 11th complete games of the season to finish 2-0 for the week and improved her record to 10-8.


UL Press