No. 1 UL Lafayette tops No. 3 Texas State to advance to championship game
Mobile, Ala. – The No. 1 seed UL Lafayette defeated the No. 3 seed Texas State, 9-7, on Friday to advance to the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship final.
It marks the eighth time in the last nine Sun Belt softball tournaments that Ragin’ Cajuns will make an appearance in the championship game. UL Lafayette (42-7) will await the winner of an elimination game on Friday night between the No. 3 seed Texas State (38-18) and the winner of an earlier elimination game between No. 2 seed and host South Alabama and No. 4 seed Georgia State. The Bobcats will take on the Jaguars or Panthers at approximately 5 p.m. CT at Jaguar Field.
UL Lafayette began the scoring in the top of the first when senior Lexie Elkins hit a sacrifice fly to right to drive in junior Haley Hayden.
The Bobcats responded in the bottom of the first when sophomore Ariel Ortiz doubled to score senior Kelli Baker. Ortiz advanced to third on an illegal pitch before junior Corrina Liscano flied out to UL Lafayette left fielder Shellie Landry who sailed a throw over home that allowed Ortiz to race home.
With the Bobcats up 2-1, the Ragin’ Cajuns mounted a rally in the top of the third inning that began with Landry’s leadoff home run to left center. Elkins and sophomore Aleah Craighton followed with singles before sophomore DJ Sanders drove in Elkins with a double down the left field line. Senior Sara Corbello followed with another RBI single before Texas State went to its relief pitcher, sophomore Randi Rupp, who worked out of the jam.
Texas State began a rally of its own in the bottom half of the inning when, with the bases loaded, sophomore Jaelyn Young walked to cut the deficit to 5-3. An illegal pitch narrowed the deficit to one run before sophomore Sara Rupp reached base by virtue of an error by Sanders at shortstop that brought home two runs to give the Bobcats a 6-5 lead.
Senior Kelsey Vincent gave the Ragin’ Cajuns the lead with one swing of the bat in the top of the fourth with a three-run home run to left. Vincent’s 12th home run of the season brought home Hayden and Landry, who reached base on a walk and fielder’s choice respectively.
Freshman Kara Gremillion tripled down the right field line before sophomore Kelli Martinez hit a grounder to second that bounced off the glove of Baker and allowed Gremillion to score from third. The run gave the Ragin ‘Cajuns a 9-6 lead in the top of the fifth.
The Bobcats responded with a run in the bottom of the inning as sophomore Alex Cruz hit a pinch-hit single down the left field line to plate Wiley from second.
UL Lafayette junior Alex Stewart (27-4) earned the win after she scattered four earned runs on four hits and struck out five. Sophomore Randi Rupp took the loss in relief to fall to 28-11 on the season.
The 2016 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship continues on Friday with two elimination games from Jaguar Field in Mobile, Ala. All games will be available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.