Cajuns bomb SFA to complete perfect opening weekend

LAFAYETTE – A group effort at the plate and another lockdown performance in the circle produced a 12-0 (5 inn.) win for the No. 20-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball team over SFA on Sunday, February 12 at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park, completing a sweep of Opening Weekend and the 37th Annual Louisiana Classics.

Louisiana (4-0) had 11 different players record a base hit and received RBI from five different individuals in matching its season-high runs total (12) and posting the highest hits total (13) of the weekend.

Sam Landry (4.0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 6 K) worked around early free passes, yielded just one base hit and added six more strikeouts to her weekend total (finished with 19). Tyler Oubre retired SFA (3-2) in order, picking up two strikeouts, for her second scoreless inning of relief on the young season.

Landry’s third strikeout of the bottom of the first inning left the Lumberjacks with the bases loaded after being the first team to pose a threat.

The Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t waste their second opportunity of the day at the plate as Jourdyn Campbell walked, Sophie Piskos singled and Victoria Valdez followed with a home run off the scoreboard in right field for a 3-0 lead.

Louisiana kept the pressure on as Lauren Allred drew a walk and Cecilia Vasquez’s ground-rule double had runners at second and third still with no outs. The Ragin’ Cajuns went on to double the run total before SFA could escape the half inning, getting runs off a Kramer Eschete grounder, Karly Heath’s looper into right field and a Lumberjacks throwing error.

Landry turned SFA away again in the second inning after runners reached second and third after a double steal, then Vasquez delivered the knockout punch with her grand slam four batters into the third inning that stretched the lead to 10-0.

The Lumberjacks went away quietly as Landry and Oubre combined to retire the final nine batters the visitors sent to the plate.

Laney Credeur’s first home run of the season, a two-run shot to right center in the fifth inning, completed the scoring and brought the Ragin’ Cajuns final total for Opening Weekend to 42 runs scored over 20 trips to the plate.

Vasquez had the biggest day at the plate so far in her collegiate rookie season, doubling and launching her first home run. She finished 2-for-3 in the contest with a game-high four RBI and raised her team-leading weekend batting average to .636 (7-for-11, 2 doubles, HR, 6 RBI).

Valdez was the other Ragin’ Cajuns rookie to join the home run party with her three-run shot in the third inning that opened the scoring. She posted her early season-best of three RBI and extended her hitting streak to four games.

Piskos (2-for-2, 2 runs) singled in both of her plate appearances to collected her second multiple-hit game of the weekend.

Sunday’s win moved Louisiana on the verge of collecting the 1,800th win in program history, now only one win away. The Ragin’ Cajuns head to the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational standing at 1,799 program victories.

The Ragin’ Cajuns defeated SFA for the second time in the Louisiana Classics tournament, extending their series win streak over the Lumberjacks to 11 games.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
No. 20 Louisiana heads to the state of Florida for a key seven-game road trip that begins Thursday-Sunday, February 16-19 at the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational in Clearwater, Florida.

While in Clearwater the Ragin’ Cajuns are set to face an all-Power 5 slate that includes Indiana, Michigan, plus nationally ranked Oklahoma State, Arkansas, UCLA and Florida State. Play begins on Thursday, February 16 vs. Indiana at 12:00 p.m. (CST).

The Ragin’ Cajuns then travel to Orlando, Florida for a Mardi Gras day (Feb. 21) meeting with nationally ranked UCF before returning home.