Championship Central
 
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Louisiana, Troy, and South Alabama earned 2024 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship quarterfinal victories Thursday at Bobcat Stadium on the campus of Texas State University.
 
The fourth and final quarterfinal matchup between second-seeded Texas State and 10th-seeded Marshall, which was postponed Thursday evening due to inclement weather, has been rescheduled for Friday, May 10 at 1 p.m.
 
Top-seeded Louisiana defeated eighth-seeded James Madison, 8-0, in five innings, before fifth-seeded Troy downed fourth-seeded Coastal Carolina, 16-0, in five frames. Third-seeded South Alabama survived sixth-seeded ULM, 2-1, in 12 innings.
 
Semifinal contests at the Sun Belt Softball Championship will be played as originally scheduled Friday evening with at 4 and 7 p.m., respectively, and both games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Game 3: (1) Louisiana 8, (8) James Madison 0 (5 inn.) (Box Score)
 
Louisiana (41-16) scored early and often to eliminate James Madison (31-22), 8-0, in five innings in the first quarterfinal matchup of the Sun Belt Softball Championship. The Ragin’ Cajuns advanced to the Sun Belt semifinals for the 23rd time in 24 seasons.
 
Junior Maddie Hayden led Louisiana’s offense 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three stolen bases, while junior Sam Roe went 2-for-2, homered and scored twice. Junior right-hander Sam Landry picked up her 23rd win of the season spun 4 1/3 shutout innings in the circle allowing three hits, no walks and striking out four.
 
The Cajuns manufactured the first run of the game in the bottom of the first on a one-out single and stolen base by Hayden. She advanced to third on a groundout before sliding into home safely on a wild pitch.
 
Louisiana added four runs in the second inning on an RBI groundout with the bases loaded, followed by an RBI single by junior Samantha Graeter and a two-run single up the middle by sophomore Mihyia Davis.
 
The Cajuns tacked on their sixth run with two outs in the following inning when junior Sam Roe turned on an 0-2 pitch and pulled it over the left field fence for a solo home run.
 
James Madison kept Louisiana off the scoreboard in the fourth inning, but the Cajuns put runners on early in the fifth before junior Alexa Langeliers hit a two-run single through the left side to finish off the eight-run victory.
 
Senior outfielder Reed Butler led the Dukes offense going 2-for-2 with a double.
 
Game 4: (5) Troy 16, (4) Coastal Carolina 0 (Box Score)
 
Senior pitcher Libby Baker fired the seventh no-hitter (individual or combined) in Sun Belt Championship history and the first since 2018, as Troy’s (34-21) offense belted four home runs to defeat Coastal Carolina (34-21), 16-0, in five innings in the Sun Belt Championship quarterfinals.
 
Baker’s no-hitter was her second of the season after doing the same on Feb. 14 against Alabama State. In the circle, she surrendered two walks and struck out four, while adding a two-run home run at the plate. Senior Audra Thompson went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers, four runs scored and five RBI, as senior Jade Sinness added three hits and drove in a pair.
 
The 16 runs scored by Troy tied for the second most in a game in Sun Belt Championship history and were the most since Louisiana’s record-setting 19 runs in 2004.
 
Each of the Trojans’ first three batters singled in the top of the first inning, including the third going up the middle off the bat of junior Taylor McKinney to score Sinness for the game’s first run. Sinness delivered again in the second inning with a two-out, RBI double into the right field gap to increase the lead to 2-0.
 
Troy extended its lead in the third inning when Baker launched a two-run home run, before Anslee Finch made it back-to-back blasts just five pitches later with a solo shot. Two batters later, Thompson launched the third longball of the inning – a solo home run – to build a 6-0 margin. The Trojans added one more run in the frame to extend the advantage to seven.
 
The Trojans pushed across five more runs in the fourth inning – all with two outs – to push the lead to a dozen and tacked on four more in the top of the fifth.
 
Game 5: (3) South Alabama 2, (6) ULM 1 (12 inn.) (Box Score)
 
South Alabama (32-17-1) used a workhorse performance from senior right-hander Olivia Lackie and a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to earn a 2-1 victory over ULM (31-24) in the Sun Belt Championship quarterfinals.
 
Lackie spun 12 innings of one-run ball allowing just six hits and one walk while striking out seven for her 23rd win of the year. Freshman Olivia Branstetter led the Jaguar offense with three hits.
 
Locked in a pitcher’s duel, the Warhawks got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth inning when freshman Maryssa Zenzen hit a one-out double to right center field. Two batters later, junior Jacelyn Buck delivered an RBI double off the left cent field wall, scoring Zenzen, for the game’s first run.
 
The Jaguars nearly tied the game in the bottom half of the frame after Welch drew a leadoff walk and stole second two batters later with two outs in the inning. Senior Mackenzie Brasher singled up the middle, but ULM centerfielder Brooklin Lippert threw a perfect strike to cut down Welch at home plate.
 
South Alabama got back to work offensively in the bottom of the sixth when two of their first three hitters reached on singles. The runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, before senior Marley Sims beat a throw from first base back to home on a fielder’s choice by senior Sasha Willems to draw even, 1-1.
 
The contest moved into extra innings with offensive production remaining at a premium, but the left-handed Welch led off the bottom of the 12th by getting underneath a 3-1 pitch and sending it the opposite way over the left center field wall to win the game.
 
ULM freshman Meagan Brown led the Warhawks offense with three hits, and sophomore right-hander Maddie Nichols hurled 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
 
2024 Sun Belt Softball Championship
 
Wednesday, May 8
Game 1: (8) James Madison 6, (9) Southern Miss 2
Game 2: (10) Marshall 4, (7) Georgia Southern 2 (11 inn.)
 
Thursday, May 9
Game 3: (1) Louisiana 8, (8) James Madison 0 (5 inn.)
Game 4: (5) Troy 16, (4) Coastal Carolina 0 (5 inn.)
Game 5: (3) South Alabama 2, (6) ULM 1 (12 inn.)
 
Friday, May 10
Game 6: (2) Texas State vs. (10) Marshall – 1:00 p.m. CT
Game 7: (1) Louisiana vs. (5) Troy – 4:00 p.m. CT
Game 8: (3) South Alabama vs. Winner Game 6 – 7:00 p.m. CT
 
Saturday, May 11
Game 9: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 – 1:00 p.m. CT