LAFAYETTE, La. - Roxy Cassel hit a two-run
home run and Kandace Causey struck out four to vault the ULM softball team to a
2-1 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday afternoon at Lamson Park. The
win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Warhawks and gave the Ragin'
Cajuns their first Sun Belt Conference home defeat of the season.
Cassel belted the seventh pitch of the
contest deep over the left-field wall. It was her seventh long ball of the year.
Causey took over from then on, as she forced 13 fly or pop outs and induced
four 1-2-3 innings.
Brianna Love finished with two hits and a run
scored, while Elise West also tallied a base hit for ULM (22-24, 9-14). Jessica
Olguin recorded her fifth sacrifice hit of the season and second of the series.
Louisiana-Lafayette (38-16, 19-5) was held to
three hits and Melissa Verde scored the Ragin' Cajuns only run of the game.
They stranded six baserunners, compared to the Warhawks three.
Love scored on Cassel's long ball, after
hitting an infield single, to give the Warhawks a quick 2-0 advantage in the
first inning.
Louisiana-Lafayette responded with a run in
its bottom half of the first inning. Verde blooped a single to center field,
before consecutive walks and a hit-by-pitch pushed a run across the plate. The
Ragin' Cajuns could have scored more runs, but was called out for hitting
outside the batter's box and struck out swinging to end the inning with the
bases loaded.
Brittany Cuevas (18-7) was tagged with the
complete game loss, after striking out four and walking two. She scattered four
hits and allowed two earned runs.
**
The Sun Belt Conference released the pairings
for the softball tournament and the Warhawks earned the seventh seed and will
play the FIU, the second seed, on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ULM will then play
either third-seeded North Texas or sixth-seeded Troy, depending upon the
outcome of its game.
