No. 1 seed Louisiana-Lafayette revenged a three-game series sweep earlier in the season to shut out No. 2 seed Florida Atlantic 8-0 in five innings to win the 2011 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship at Lamson Park on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Saturday.

The Cajuns (49-9) earned their 11th Sun Belt Conference Championship in the 12-year history of Sun Belt softball. ULL has won the title every year in which they were deemed the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The third straight crowd of more than one thousand pushed the overall tournament attendance over 10,000 for the first time in the 12-year history of the Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship.

The league's Player of the Year Christi Orgeron was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after breaking a three-year-old SBC Tournament record for most RBI in a tournament when she homered to left field in the bottom of the second to score three. The top 10 finalist for USA Softball's Player of the Year added to her RBI total with a two-run bomb over the center field wall to give her 13 for the tournament.

Orgeron extended her league-leading RBI count to 97, which also leads the nation. The junior from New Orleans also moved into the top five all-time on the NCAA's single-season RBI charts. Her two home runs moved her ahead of fellow Cajun Gabriele Bridges, who tied for the national lead, with 23 on the year. Orgeron also tied a SBC Tournament record for most home runs in a tournament with three, one of only three players to accomplish that feat.

Joining Orgeron on the all-tournament team were teammates Bridges and Ashley Brignac. Bridges made NCAA history against South Alabama on Friday, setting the NCAA's new single-season grand slam record when she blasted her fourth of the season. The Cajuns' lone senior tallied one of ULL's eight runs in the championship game after she was walked.

Bridges and Orgeron have now combined for 45 home runs, the most by any duo in the country. The duo has also combined for an astronomical 173 RBI.

Brignac (30-5) moved into fifth place in the Sun Belt record books by recording her 30th win of the season when she shut down FAU's offense. The junior went the distance in the circle, only allowing two hits and walking two while striking out five batters in the shut out. Brignac threw her threw her seventh career no-hitter on Friday to eliminate South Alabama 10-0 in five innings. The no-hitter by Brignac (29-5) was her second in six-days as she shut down La.-Monroe last Saturday.

Also leading the Cajuns on offense was Nerissa Myers, who scored off Orgeron's first homer, registered her seventh run of the tournament, also breaking a SBC Tournament record for most runs scored in a tournament.

The Cajuns got on the board first by taking advantage of an Owl throwing error to put up one in the first. In the top of the second, Draheim hit a grounder that rolled through Carly Speerin's legs at shortstop, allowing Bridges to score. Myers tallied an RBI-single, following by Orgeron slamming her first homer of the game to round in three and move the Cajuns ahead 5-0.

Florida Atlantic (34-25) pulled Rose Gressley (20-13) after the second inning in favor of Taylor Fawbush.

Orgeron struck again in the fourth with a two-run bomb over the center field wall to give her 97 RBI on the year.
The Cajuns added their final run in the fifth inning when Paige Cormier hit a solo homer, her fifth of the season.

The Owls couldn't get their offense going, only getting two hits in 17 at-bats.

Gressley recorded the loss for the Owls, allowing four hits and five runs, one unearned in two innings of work.

Florida Atlantic First Team all-conference selections Gressley and Heather Barnes also earned spots on the all-tournament team.

As tournament champion, Louisiana-Lafayette receives the Sun Belt Conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament. ESPNU HD will air the NCAA Division I Softball Selection Show on Sunday, May 15, at 9 p.m., unveiling the 64-team field.

2011 Sun Belt Conference Softball All-Tournament Team
Katy Neal, South Alabama
Nikki Hollett, Troy
Amanda Thomas, Western Kentucky
Brianna Love, Louisiana-Monroe
Kayla Burri, FIU
Heather Bearnes, Florida Atlantic
Rose Gressley, Florida Atlantic
Gabriele Bridges, Louisiana-Lafayette
Ashley Brignac, Louisiana-Lafayette

Most Outstanding Player: Christi Orgeron, Louisiana-Lafayette



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