BOCA RATON, Fla. - A potent offensive performance allowed ULM
to stay alive in the Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship with a dominant
10-4 victory over Troy Thursday afternoon. The Warhawks collected 10 hits to
retake its initial lead and fight off the Trojans' comeback attempt.
Janel Salanoa had a huge 2-for-3 performance with three runs
and three RBIS, both hits being home runs. Her two bombs in a single game is
the first for ULM since Apr. 17, 2010 when Brianna Love hit two against Western
Kentucky.
Charlotte Pastor also had an impressive outing by going
2-for-4 to score three runs with two RBIs. Alexis Cacioppo also went 2-for-3
with one run and one RBI while Miyuki Navarrete and Kayla Boening provided one
and two runs, respectively.
Jessica Chastka (1-3) earned her first win of the season in
4.1 innings of relief and allowed just four hits and no runs with two
strikeouts. Samantha Hamby started 2.2 innings and allowed all four runs, which
were earned.
After Troy (31-24) took its first lead of the game in the
bottom of the third inning, ULM (25-25) fought back immediately in its next at
bat with a leadoff home run by Salanoa. Cacioppo followed with a double and
moved over on a fly out before Miller laid down a perfect bunt to execute the
squeeze play and tie up the game.
Boening provided the go-ahead run for the Warhawks in the
fifth inning when Pastor's single hopped over the shortstop's head and she went
home from third. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases and Roxy Cassel's
sacrifice fly and Haley McCall's single pushed two more runs across home plate.
Two throwing errors to first base by the Trojans allowed the
Warhawks to pad its lead by three more runs an inning later. Mackenzie Miller
and Navarrete each got into scoring position on nearly identical errors, and
Pastor reached second with a fielder's choice that allowed both of them to go
home. Cacioppo's RBI single capped the inning.
A three-run inning by the Trojans turned the tables on ULM's
early 2-1 lead when they loaded the bases on a single, fielder's choice and hit
by pitch. The game-tying run walked in and a two RBI single by Kacie McAllister
gave Troy its first advantage of the day.
ULM struck quickly with a two-run home run in the first
inning by Salanoa. She plated Pastor who had the first hit of the game, a hard
hit single that glanced off the pitcher's glove.
A double by the Trojans' Bailey Blake put their first run on
the scoreboard in the second inning, which sent Hannah Renn home from second
after the she got on with a walk.
Blake was the only Trojans to manage two hits, going 2-for-3
with two RBIs. McAllister also collected two RBIs in a 1-for-3 outing. Ashley
Rainey (17-13) was credited the loss after tossing seven innings and allowing
nine hits and four earned runs.
ULM will face the loser of this evening's Western Kentucky
and UL-Lafayette matchup tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. CT. If they win, they will
play another elimination game tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. CT against the
winner of tomorrow's FIU and South Alabama game.
