As we all know, our pitching staff was hit hard by graduation this year, with Kandra Lamb, Megan Schorman and Karly Heath all graduating. That group had a combined record of 29-9 with 5 Saves, and pitched 242.2 innings of the 412 innings pitched by the staff.
Among our returning pitchers only Sam Landry has really extensive D1 experience, though Chloe Riassetto has looked very good in limited action.
The only other pitcher on the 2023 roster who will return next season is Kyleigh Pitzer, who has yet to throw a pitch in a college game. Though she had really good stats in High School ball, she is totally unproven at the D1 level.
Of new players for 2024, only Denali Loecker, a Sr. transfer from Iowa, has any D1 pitching experience. She was fairly effective in relief last year for the hawkeyes, going 3-2 with 9 saves over 73.1 innings. Her ERA was 2.86 and her WHIP was 1.51.
Samantha Ryan, coming to the Cajuns from the Canadian National Team, where she pitched all last season and the later portion of 2022. The Canadian team is ranked in the top 5 in the world. Sam had previously represented Canada on the U-17 an U-19 national teams. Prior to her International play, Ryan was a JUCO All-American at Chattanooga State CC. In her two years at Chatt State, Sam was 40-9 with an ERA of 1.32 and a WHIP of 0.950. While she is completely unproven at the D1 level, her JUCO numbers are really impressive, and her two years of International play should carry over to D1, at least in maturity. Though we have no idea just how effective she will be here, I fully expect her to be at worst an effective starter against weak to moderately strong competition. At best, her JUCO numbers could carry over, giving UL another elite or near elite pitcher.
I expect us to add at least one more pitcher via the transfer portal, assuming we can attract one who is at least either a 1 year elite addition or an underclassman with a huge upside.
No, I have no information about what our course of action will be, or even what our coaches expect from any of our staff. All of the above except the concrete numbers for Loecker and Ryan is pure speculation on my part.