No. 1 UL Lafayette Defeats No. 2 South Alabama 6-3 to advance to Sun Belt Championship Game
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Powered by five home runs No. 1 UL Lafayette advanced to Saturday’s championship game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 6-3 win over No. 2 South Alabama Friday afternoon at Bobcat Softball Stadium.
South Alabama got on the board first as Emily Messer singled before Stephanie Pilkington and Chloe Rathburn walked to load the bases. Kaitlyn Griffith was hit by a pitch to score Messer. Kristian Foster walked to score Pilkington and give South Alabama a 2-0 advantage. UL Lafayette pitcher Christina Hamilton got out of the jam thanks to a 1-2-3 double play and a groundout back to the pitcher.
UL Lafayette responded in the bottom of the first as Hayley Hayden hit a solo home run to left field. The Ragin' Cajuns evened the score in the second inning with a D.J. Sanders solo home run.
The game stayed knotted at two as Hamilton and South Alabama starter Kalen McGill settled in for the next two innings. However, Lexie Elkins and Samantha Walsh hit back-to-back solo home runs to centerfield in the fifth inning to give UL Lafayette a 4-2 lead. Pinch Hitter Sara Corbello hit the Cajuns' fifth homer of the day and 106th of the season with a two run shot to centerfield in the sixth inning.
South Alabama pulled one back in the seventh as Chloe Rathburn knocked a double to left center to score Kaleigh Todd who had reached via a walk.
Hamilton limited USA to four hits in seven innings and surrendered only one through the first four frames. After the two-run first, she kept the Jaguars scoreless through the sixth inning.
McGill pitched 4.1 innings and allowed four runs and eight hits. Devin Brown pitched the final 1.1 innings and gave up two runs on one hit and one walk.
Messer finished 2 for 4 with one run. Rathburn went 1 for 2 with an RBI.
Elkins and Walsh, who both finished 2-for-3 at the plate to lead the Cajuns in hits. For Elkins, it was her 29th home run of the season moving her within one of Danyele Gomez’s single-season Sun Belt record 30 hit in 2006.
The 106 home runs is a program record for a season, surpassing the 102 hit in 2006. It is also the 10th most in NCAA Division I history. The team's average of 2.25 home runs per game leads the country and is second all-time behind Hawaii's 2010 mark of 2.39.
Elkins is one home run from tying a Sun Belt record of 30 home runs during a season. Her pace of 0.62 home runs per game would be an NCAA record surpassing UTEP's Camilla Carrera who set the current record in 2012.
UL Lafayette picked up its 50th all-time Sun Belt Tournament victory (50-7 record) and advanced to the championship game for the 14th-time in the 16-year history of the event.
UL Lafayette will play for the championship against the winner of Friday’s finale between South Alabama and No. 5 Georgia State who advanced earlier today thanks to an 8-6 victory over No. 6 UL Monroe. The championship game will be broadcast on ESPN3 at 1 p.m. CT.