At 14-0, they are uncatchable in the Sun Belt Conference softball race and will be the No. 1 seed for next week’s Sun Belt Tournament at Ragin’ Cajun Softball Park.

But UL is also 48-6 overall and ranked among the best teams in the nation.

Sweeping four games against the Blue Raiders and three in the Sun Belt Tournament would produce a 55-6 mark and strengthen one projection that sees the Cajuns as a top seed in NCAA Regional action in Athens, Ga.

Don’t expect Louisiana to take it easy.

“We go into every weekend as if we’re playing four games in an NCAA Regional,” said junior shortstop Tiffany Hebert. “We don’t look at it like we’re playing Florida International or Middle Tennessee. We treat it like we’re playing the best teams in the country.

“We’re playing against ourselves, so we want to do the best we can. We want to put ourselves in a World Series environment. We want to go in winning every game, and end the season with a win.”

Hebert was a backup on the Cajuns’ 2003 squad that reached the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, and a taste of success has whetted her appetite for more.

“It was an awesome experience,” Hebert said. “It helped us to see that we’re just as good as they are. When we see teams like Arizona and UCLA and go against the top teams in the country, that helps us to know that we can come back this year and make it a little better.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com