University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Softball Hopes To Set Attendance Mark At Regional
5/15/2012 9:00:00 PM | Softball
Contact: Cory Weigel
With three days to go before the Ragin' Cajuns softball team hosts their first NCAA Softball Regional at Lamson Park in over a decade, UL players and coaches spent Tuesday holding a pair of practices in preparation for their NCAA opener against Mississippi Valley on Friday (May 18).
With classes and finals already over for spring semester at the university, the Cajuns can turn their total focus to the tournament ahead.
No more tests to study for or papers to turn in. Instead, the Cajuns are taking a Softball 601, a graduate level course that will be made even more difficult when Stanford, Baylor and Mississippi Valley arrive in Lafayette on Wednesday.
As the first practice of the day wound down, co-head coach Michael Lotief spent time in the right field batting cages working with players to fine tune their swings. This is a daily event for the hitting guru, and it has been individual work like this repeated over and over during the course of the 2012 season that has allowed UL to lead the nation in scoring this year with an average of 8.1 runs per game.
During a break in the practice, Lotief optimistically looked ahead to the weekend, knowing the excitement that lies ahead for the Cajuns.
“This is going to be a fun week,” Lotief said. “We have such great fans that I know it is going to a weekend to remember. By being able to play at home, it is a reward to our fans for being there for this team for so long.
“We've led the Sun Belt in attendance every year since we joined it in 2000 and that is a testament to our fans. When we hosted the Sun Belt Championship last year, we far and away had the best attendance of any conference championship in the country.
“I'd love to show the nation what our fans are capable of by having the best attendance of the 16 regionals. I know that we can do it,” Lotief added. “This place is going to be rocking.”
Lotief knows his history as the UL faithful turned out in droves for the 2011 Sun Belt Tournament, setting an attendance record with more than 10,000 fans over the four-day event. It is the only time in the tournament history that attendance reached that total. (Note: Turning out in numbers is nothing new to Cajun fans as the only times the Sun Belt Baseball Championship has drawn more than 10,000 fans came in 2001, 2003 and 2008. . . the last three times it was held in Lafayette.)
Now, Lotief would like to see an even larger turnout.
“I know our fans are going to be here this weekend because they love great softball and they love their Cajuns,” Michael Lotief said. “We have this awesome new ball park for our fans to enjoy and I can't wait to see it packed with our fans wearing red and white.
With $2.1 million in renovations having taken place in Lamson Park over the last two years, Cajuns fans have responded to the new facility – and of course the 7th-ranked Cajuns 49-4 record this year – by setting school attendance records. In 17 home dates, UL has drawn 17,897 fans for 1,052 per game.
To put those numbers in comparison, only once since the NCAA started tracking softball attendance in 2000 has UL ranked outside of the top 26 nationally in attendance, and this year's record average should vault the Cajuns into the top 10 nationally.
When UL last hosted an NCAA Regional in 2002, the Cajuns drew sell-out crowds of 1,475 for games against UMass and LSU. With a capacity of greater than 2,800 now, that record should fall.
“Our fans have always been there for us and that kind of support is one of the reasons we have accomplished such great things in this program,” Lotief said.
The Cajuns softball program is definitely one of a kind. Ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Softball history in tournament appearances (22), consecutive tournament appearances (14) and all-time tournament wins (52), UL has made the Sun Belt one of just five conferences to host an NCAA Regional this year.
With three days to go before the Ragin' Cajuns softball team hosts their first NCAA Softball Regional at Lamson Park in over a decade, UL players and coaches spent Tuesday holding a pair of practices in preparation for their NCAA opener against Mississippi Valley on Friday (May 18).
With classes and finals already over for spring semester at the university, the Cajuns can turn their total focus to the tournament ahead.
No more tests to study for or papers to turn in. Instead, the Cajuns are taking a Softball 601, a graduate level course that will be made even more difficult when Stanford, Baylor and Mississippi Valley arrive in Lafayette on Wednesday.
As the first practice of the day wound down, co-head coach Michael Lotief spent time in the right field batting cages working with players to fine tune their swings. This is a daily event for the hitting guru, and it has been individual work like this repeated over and over during the course of the 2012 season that has allowed UL to lead the nation in scoring this year with an average of 8.1 runs per game.
During a break in the practice, Lotief optimistically looked ahead to the weekend, knowing the excitement that lies ahead for the Cajuns.
“This is going to be a fun week,” Lotief said. “We have such great fans that I know it is going to a weekend to remember. By being able to play at home, it is a reward to our fans for being there for this team for so long.
“We've led the Sun Belt in attendance every year since we joined it in 2000 and that is a testament to our fans. When we hosted the Sun Belt Championship last year, we far and away had the best attendance of any conference championship in the country.
“I'd love to show the nation what our fans are capable of by having the best attendance of the 16 regionals. I know that we can do it,” Lotief added. “This place is going to be rocking.”
Lotief knows his history as the UL faithful turned out in droves for the 2011 Sun Belt Tournament, setting an attendance record with more than 10,000 fans over the four-day event. It is the only time in the tournament history that attendance reached that total. (Note: Turning out in numbers is nothing new to Cajun fans as the only times the Sun Belt Baseball Championship has drawn more than 10,000 fans came in 2001, 2003 and 2008. . . the last three times it was held in Lafayette.)
Now, Lotief would like to see an even larger turnout.
“I know our fans are going to be here this weekend because they love great softball and they love their Cajuns,” Michael Lotief said. “We have this awesome new ball park for our fans to enjoy and I can't wait to see it packed with our fans wearing red and white.
With $2.1 million in renovations having taken place in Lamson Park over the last two years, Cajuns fans have responded to the new facility – and of course the 7th-ranked Cajuns 49-4 record this year – by setting school attendance records. In 17 home dates, UL has drawn 17,897 fans for 1,052 per game.
To put those numbers in comparison, only once since the NCAA started tracking softball attendance in 2000 has UL ranked outside of the top 26 nationally in attendance, and this year's record average should vault the Cajuns into the top 10 nationally.
When UL last hosted an NCAA Regional in 2002, the Cajuns drew sell-out crowds of 1,475 for games against UMass and LSU. With a capacity of greater than 2,800 now, that record should fall.
“Our fans have always been there for us and that kind of support is one of the reasons we have accomplished such great things in this program,” Lotief said.
The Cajuns softball program is definitely one of a kind. Ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Softball history in tournament appearances (22), consecutive tournament appearances (14) and all-time tournament wins (52), UL has made the Sun Belt one of just five conferences to host an NCAA Regional this year.
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