Louisiana Softball Posts a Saturday Sweep, Completed With a Top 25 Victory
12th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Softball completed its season-opening homestand with a sweep on Saturday, finished off with a 2-1 win over No. 7 Louisiana State in the first Top 25 test of the season in front of a record crowd of 3,107 at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park.
The win in the nightcap marked the 100th career win for head coach Gerry Glasco, now in his third season with the Ragin' Cajuns (7-1).
It was a quick response against the Tigers (6-1) and the steady arm of Megan Kleist which locked up the win in the first regular season meeting between the two programs since April 2001.
Trailing 1-0 after Louisiana State netted an unearned run in the top of the second inning, it was Sarah Hudek taking the first offering from Maribeth Gorsuch deep into the left field bleachers to create a new ball game.
The Ragin' Cajuns kept the pressure on Gorsuch by loading the bases as each of the next three batters reached. Bailey Curry narrowly missed a grand slam, but the fly ball was plenty deep to score Alissa Dalton with the eventual game-winning run.
Kleist (3-1, 0.56 ERA) took the lead and promptly retired the next six batters she faced, seizing the momentum. In the lone threat the remainder of the way, she induced a pair of ground ball outs with two Tigers aboard the base path in the fifth inning.
The senior All-American transfer from Oregon limited Louisiana State to just four hits, walked only one and struck out five. Over the final four innings, the Tigers managed to move a runner past second base in only one frame.
Earlier in the day, the Ragin' Cajuns kept their win streak alive with a 7-0 win over Samford (4-4), an outcome which had little doubt remaining after a first-inning grand slam from Dalton.
Dalton led the way with four RBI, while Carrie Boswell, Raina O'Neal and Taylor Roman each contributed two hits. O'Neal also homered, sending a laser shot deep to left field in the third inning which increased the lead to 5-0.
Summer Ellyson (4-0, 0.59 ERA) yielded only one base hit to the Bulldogs in seven innings of work and wound up facing only two batters over the minimum. She struck out seven and posted a shutout for the second consecutive start.
DIAMOND NOTES
The crowd of 3,107 eclipsed the previous Lamson Park attendance mark of 2,729 recorded in May 2012 vs. Stanford in an NCAA Regional contest.
With the sweep of Saturday's play, the Ragin' Cajuns extended their winning streak to five games since the narrow loss to North Texas on Feb. 8.
Summer Ellyson and Megan Kleist combined to throw 14 innings without allowing an earned run. During the current five-game win streak, the duo has combined to surrender only two earned runs (and seven base hits) over 29-2/3 innings.
Alissa Dalton became the eighth different Ragin' Cajun to hit a home run this season when she launched the grand slam against Samford.
Raina O'Neal (vs. Samford) and Sarah Hudek (vs. Louisiana State) both picked up their second home run of the season, joining Julie Rawls in possessing multiple home runs.
The Samford contest marked the fourth game with multiple home runs for Louisiana. The squad has hit at least one home run in five consecutive games, and in all but two this season.
Louisiana met Samford for the first time since the Bulldogs visited Lamson Park for the very first game of the Gerry Glasco era back in February 2018.
The matchup with Louisiana State marks the first of nine games against nationally ranked foes for Louisiana through March 1. The Ragin' Cajuns and Tigers meet again on Sunday, there are two meetings with Oklahoma State next weekend in Birmingham, a doubleheader at Texas and a three-game series at Florida on the way.
UP NEXT
No. 12 Louisiana travels to Baton Rouge on Sunday for a rematch with No. 7 Louisiana State at Tiger Park. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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Re: Louisiana Softball Posts a Saturday Sweep, Completed With a Top 25 Victory
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