MOBILE, Ala. – The ULM softball team (27-27, 10-17) fell 5-0 to Coastal Carolina in first-round action of the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tuesday at Jaguar Field in Mobile, Alabama. The Warhawk bats were quiet until the late innings and unable to overcome the Chanticleers' five early runs.
 
"Our team is a young team and we got a lot of experience this season going into next year," said ULM head coach Molly Fichtner. "In this game, we got punched in the first inning and we weren't able to punch back. There are a couple of great things about this year because we're getting everyone back and adding to our program."
 
The Warhawk offense got their first two hits in the fifth inning as Madelyn Fletcher and Lourdes Bacon led off with back-to-back singles. ULM loaded the bases with a walk issued to Korie Kreps, but Kaitlin Beasley-Polko got out of the inning without surrendering a run. ULM had four hits for the game and left six baserunners stranded.
 
Coastal Carolina, the No. 9 seed, picked up two quick scores off five hits in the first inning. A lead-off double and then a string of four singles plated two runs with only one out. The Chanticleers scored three more runs in the second inning after Coastal took advantage of a combination of two walks, a wild pitch and a double with two outs.
 
Madelyn Fletcher had two hits, singles in the fifth and sixth. Lourdes Bacon followed Fletcher with a single in the fifth and Fletcher was the second Warhawk on base after Kennedy Johnson had her single in the sixth.
 
Freshman Kinsey Kackley came in as the Warhawks' third pitcher of record in the second inning and retired four-straight Coastal Carolina batters, including striking out the side in the third inning. She pitched 5.1 innings, allowing three hits and one earned run in the second inning. Coastal Carolina did not score in her final five innings.
 
Beasley-Polko (13-9) earned the win with the complete-game shutout. Victoria Abrams (7-10) took the loss for ULM.
 
ULM finished the 2022 season with a .500 record, only the third time the Warhawks produced a record at or above .500 in its 15-year history in the Sun Belt Conference. ULM tied its program best with 10 Sun Belt wins and the 27 overall wins are tied for the third-highest total since 2007.
 
All members of the Warhawk team are planning on returning to compete in 2023 and ULM adds four members of its 2022 signing class to the roster.