Langeliers lifts Cajuns to win at No. 25 Illinois

Ragin’ Cajuns extend win streak to eight games, bring an end to Illini’s 10-game win streak

URBANA, Ill. – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball team picked up a key late-season RPI win and came away victorious in head coach Gerry Glasco’s Homecoming on Tuesday, April 19 posting a 4-2 (8 inn.) extra-innings win over No. 25 Illinois at Eichelberger Field.

Alexa Langeliers (2-for-3, double, 2 RBI) came through in extras with a two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning to provide the winning tallies as Louisiana (31-10) defeated Illinois (26-14) which entered the game newly ranked in the D1Softball Top 25 poll and stood at No. 31 in the NCAA RPI rankings.

The Ragin’ Cajuns extended their winning streak to a season-high eight games and snapped the Illini’s 10-game winning streak. The win also made it a memorable return home for Glasco (Illinois ’80) who returned to his alma mater as a collegiate head coach for the first time.

Louisiana moved to 2-0 on the Midwest segment of its Spring Break trip which wraps up on Wednesday, April 20 at Indiana in a contest moved up to 1:00pm (CDT) due to forecasted rain. After the IU matchup, it’s on to Boone, N.C., for a Sun Belt series at App State from Friday-Sunday, April 22-24 to close out the week-long stretch of road games.

With an aggressive approach in the first inning the Ragin’ Cajuns gained an early lead and never faced a deficit. It was 1-0 in favor of Louisiana after only two batters as Stormy Kotzelnick led off the game with a double and Maddie Hayden drove her home with a single.

Illinois scratched an unearned run off of Kandra Lamb in the second inning to draw even. Sam Landry (5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 4 K) took over with no outs and chased the Illini off the field to begin a string of five consecutive scoreless innings of relief.

Louisiana was able to end the deadlock in the sixth inning after back-to-back, one-out singles from Ari Quiñones and Sophie Piskos chased Illinois starting pitcher Tori McQueen and set the stage for Quiñones later scoring on a passed ball for a 2-1 edge.

The Illini was able to force extra innings by getting a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning off of Meghan Schorman (2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 K) spoiling her save opportunity.

An Illinois miscue in the eighth inning brought Langeliers to the plate for her heroics that picked up Schorman and set her up for the win as she retired the hosts in order in the bottom half of the inning to close out the game.

Seven of the nine batters in the Ragin’ Cajuns lineup recorded at least one base hit as the squad out-hit the Illini 10-5, reaching double figures in hits for the fifth time in the past seven games. Langeliers and Kayla Falterman (2-for-2) both led all players in the contest with a multiple-hit game.

With her leadoff double, Kotzelnick extended her current hitting streak to nine games and became the first Ragin’ Cajun this season to reach 50 base hits. Langeliers increased her season RBI total to 28, the third-highest total on the team, and posted her sixth multiple-hit and multiple-RBI game.

Landry and Schorman combined to hold the Illini to a single run and three base hits over their seven innings of joint relief efforts in the circle. After a leadoff single in the third inning, Landry held the hosts hitless through the sixth inning.

Tuesday’s meeting marked the first on-campus meeting between the two programs. It was the first series matchup since splitting a doubleheader at the Texas A&M Aggie Classic in College Station, Texas on March 9, 2008.

Louisiana has now won its last two outings with ranked and Power 5 teams, the win over the Illini adding to a March 30 extra innings triumph at then-No. 14 Texas.

UP NEXT
Louisiana continues its week-long road trip with one last Midwest stop coming on Wednesday, April 20 in Bloomington, Ind., to face Indiana (23-13) in a 1:00 p.m. (CDT) single game at Andy Mohr Field.

The game serves as a Homecoming for Louisiana’s Stormy Kotzelnick who is from Carmel, Ind., which is a suburb of Indianapolis and a mere 73 miles from Bloomington. It’s also Louisiana’s first-ever appearance in Bloomington in program history.

The Ragin’ Cajuns outing against the Hoosiers closes out the three-game, non-conference segment through the Midwest on the team’s current Spring Break trip. After facing IU, the squad travels to Boone, N.C., for a Sun Belt series at App State.

Live video coverage is being provided by B1G+ (subscription required) and a radio broadcast with commentary from Ian Auzenne is available in the Acadiana region on ESPN Lafayette 103.3 FM and 1420 AM. Live stats are available at CajunStats.com.