Cajuns Split Opening Day; Beat UNI, Fall to #10 Texas

Contact: Nick Ross

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns softball team split their opening day doubleheader, picking up a 10-8 win over Northern Iowa and fell to #10 Texas, 10-7, at the 28^th Louisiana Classics on Friday at Lamson Park.

Both games saw comeback efforts, most notably the first game, seeing the Cajuns erase a 7-0 Northern Iowa lead in the fourth inning, to come back and win 10-8.

The Cajuns played as the away team in both games.

"That was a fun game," Lotief said of the comeback against Northern Iowa. "I'm proud of them for fighting. It shows you a little bit about their character and their fight. It is a good sign to see the young kids who will fight."

Louisiana didn't lack power on the day, hitting five home runs and a total of nine extra-base hits, while scoring 17 runs in the process. Sophomore transfer Lexie Elkins slugged two home runs in her Ragin' Cajuns debut against Northern Iowa, and sophomore Shellie Landry finished the day 3-for-5 with five RBI and two doubles.

"I liked the way we swung the bat today," Lotief said. "I thought we competed well. Now we need to go fix the things we didn't do well. We need to get some consistency throughout the lineup. We need to play better defense and do better in the circle, and we will."

The Cajuns day got off to a slow start, falling behind Northern Iowa 7-0 in the first four innings, before charging back and scoring 10 of the next 11 runs in the game, including a four-run sixth inning, and a three-run seventh, eventually winning 10-8 in extra innings.

Jordan Wallace got the win in the opener, despite freshman Alex Stewart getting the start. Wallace tossed the final two innings of the game, allowing no runs on one hit and striking out two.

Freshman Macey Smith pitched 4.2 innings of relief, allowing two earned runs on five hits and four walks, while fanning two batters. Stewart and Christina Hamilton tossed 0.2 innings a piece in the game.

The Ragin' Cajuns got hits in clutch situations, with Elkins' home runs coming in the seventh and eighth innings, and sophomore Sara Corbello also homered in the seventh, to cut the Panthers lead to just one.

The second game was the opposite story for the Cajuns, after five-run first-inning rally put the Cajuns up in the top of the inning. The rally was highlighted by a two-run single by Landry and Kelsey Vincent's first home run of the season.

The Cajuns added two more runs in the fifth to add to their lead with a single by Shelbi Redfearn and a sacrifice fly by Landry, to make it 7-4.

The Longhorns wouldn't lay dormant, however, scoring three runs in each the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, to go on to win 10-7.

Wallace got the start for the Cajuns in the nightcap, tossing 5.0 innings, allowing seven runs on six hits and ten walks, while fanning eight batters. Macey Smith came out of the bullpen with two on and no out in the sixth, immediately striking out a batter and getting a lineout, before Texas' star of the game Brejae Washington hit a line drive up the middle to score two runs and take the lead.

Washington finished the game 3-for-4 with four runs scored, two RBI and a home run.

Freshman Haley Hayden finished the day 3-for-8 in her collegiate debut, scoring two runs in the process. Another freshman, Kassidy Zeringue started both games in center field, going 1-for-4 at the plate, and picking up a defensive assist, throwing out a runner attempting to tag up from second base on a fly ball in the first inning against Northern Iowa.

"It went like we thought it would go with a bunch of young kids," Lotief said. "The young kids stepped up but we have issues that we need to fix. Our kids showed some intensity and fight throughout the day. We had sometimes were we had our backs against the wall and we fought, and times when we had our opponents backs against the wall and we needed to close them out and we didn't."

The Cajuns will return to the field tomorrow, Feb. 8, when they take on North Carolina at 2 p.m. and face Texas again, at 4:30 p.m. The Cajuns will finish up their weekend on Sunday with their second game of the weekend against Northern Iowa at 11:30 a.m.

-- www.RaginCajuns.com --

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

Cajuns Split Opening Day; Beat UNI, Fall to #10 Texas

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