HAMMOND, La. – UL Lafayette's bats came alive in the second and sixth innings, allowing the Ragin' Cajuns to pull away for a 13-2 six-inning victory over Southeastern Louisiana in non-conference softball action Wednesday night at North Oak Park.
Southeastern (23-16) took a 2-0 lead before the UL Lafayette bats got hot in the top of the second inning. The Ragin' Cajuns (26-10) touched up six SLU pitchers for 14 hits in Tuesday's contest.
UL Lafayette senior Kylee Jo Trahan (4-1) held SLU to three hits in 4.0 innings of work to earn the victory. Freshmen Carrie Boswell and Casey Dixon each throw a shutout inning of relief to secure the victory.
SLU took the early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Junior
Jaquelyn Ramon walked and eventually scored on an RBI single by junior
Rebecca Skains. Another run came in on a sacrifice fly by freshman
Madisen Blackford to stake the Lady Lions to an early two-run advantage.
Southeastern senior
Rachel Hayes (9-7) retired the first four batters she faced, before giving up four consecutive hits to allow the Ragin' Cajuns to tie the score. An RBI groundout by senior Kelli Martinez and a run-scoring single by sophomore Alissa Dalton put UL Lafayette up, 4-2.
SLU looked poised to answer in its half of the second. Senior
Kinsey Nichols struck out, but reached on a wild pitch. Senior
Maddie Edmonston followed with a double into the left field corner, then Ramon drew a walk to load the bases with two outs. Trahan got out of the jam, retiring senior
Mahalia Gibson, ending SLU's top slugger's streak of five consecutive hits and keeping the Ragin' Cajun lead at two runs.
UL Lafayette padded their advantage in the top of the fourth inning. Consecutive solo home runs by senior Kayln Watts and freshman Kourtney Gremillion gave the Ragin' Cajuns a 6-2 advantage.
Any chance of a SLU comeback was ended by the Ragin' Cajuns in the top of the sixth inning. UL Lafayette sent 11 batters to the plate in the seven-run frame to increase the lead to 13-2.
Dixon shook off a two-out double by SLU senior
Alli Daigle in the bottom of the sixth to enforce the mercy rule.
Southeastern will head to Natchitoches for a three-game Southland Conference set at Northwestern State. The series opens at 5 p.m. on Friday and concludes with a 12 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
