UL Softball Sweeps Doubleheader From Appalachian St.

The 20th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns were victorious in a Sun Belt Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Lamson Park.

Louisiana opened the home portion of their Sun Belt Conference schedule by sweeping a doubleheader from the Appalachian St. Mountaineers, winning the first game, 5-0, before also winning the nightcap, 8-0, in 5-inning mercy-rule fashion.

The doubleheader represented the first two games of a three-game, weekend, conference series.

The two wins improved UL's current win streak to a modest four games.

The twinbill sweep also guaranteed Louisiana a conference series win, and extends their league series win streak to 39-straight, dating back to 2013.

The Cajuns outscored Appalachian St., 13-0, in the two games, while outhitting them 21-3.

Louisiana pitching, now with three-consecutive shutouts, going back to Thursday night's 2-0 non-conference win over FIU, has tossed 20-straight scoreless innings.

In the opener, Louisiana got on the scoreboard first, scoring four runs on five hits in the bottom half of the first inning, courtesy of run-scoring singles Kara Gremillion, Kynadi Tipler, and Kourtney Gremillion, to give them a quick 4-0 lead.

The Cajuns added another run in the bottom half of the third inning, when Kara Gremillion blasted a solo home run, her first of the season, to widen their advantage to 5-0.

That would be UL would need, as they went on to the 5-run triumph, behind the pitching of Summer Ellyson and Carrie Boswell, who combined for a one-hit shutout.

Louisiana, who outhit Appalachian St., 10-1, was paced at the plate by Kara Gremillion and Kourtney Gremillion, who each had two hits, while Kara Gremillion, who also homered, drove home two runs as well.

Ellyson (7-3) recorded the win in the circle for the Cajuns, tossing 5.0 innings of no-hit, shutout softball, moving her scoreless inning streak to 12.0 innings.

Boswell finished the game, pitching two innings of scoreless relief, as the Cajuns captured their second-consecutive shutout win.

Kenzie Longanecker (4-7), suffered the loss for the Mountaineers, allowing 5 runs on 10 hits over 6.0 innings pitched.

View the game one box score here.

In the second game, Louisiana scored the first run of the game, plating a run in the bottom half of the first inning, when Brittany Rodriguez opened the frame with a single, and then later scored on a sacrifice-fly off the bat of Tipler, to give them a quick 1-0 lead.

The Cajuns added a second run in the bottom half of the second inning, when Alissa Dalton delievered a clutch two-out single, scoring Casidy Chaumont, to extend their lead to 2-0.

UL broke things wide open in the bottom of the third inning, scoring five runs on five hits, with the major blow of the frame being a three-run homer off the bat of Dalton, her second of the season, and her fourth RBI of the game, to make it 7-0.

The Cajuns ended things in the bottom half of the 5th inning, when Kalyn Watts singled home Kelli Martinez with the mercy-rule run, to give them the 8-0 triumph, their second mercy-rule win of the season, and the doubleheader sweep.

Louisiana, who outhit Appalachian St., 11-2, was paced at the plate by Dalton, who homered and drove in four runs, while Kourtney Gremillion went 2-for-2, giving her four hits in four official at-bats in the two games combined.

Casey Dixon (5-1) recorded the win in the circle for the Cajuns. twirling a 2-hit, 5-inning shutout, while striking out four hitters.

Callie Kuykendall (2-3) suffered the loss for the Mountaineers, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits over 2.2 innings pitched.

View the game two box score here.

With the doubleheader sweep, Louisiana improved to 17-6, overall, and 4-1 in Sun Belt Conference play, while Appalachian St. fell to 12-13, and 2-3, respectively.

The two teams will conclude their three-game set with a Sunday single game beginning at 11 am (cdt).

You can hear all the play-by-play action on sports Radio ESPN 1420 and espn1420.com, beginning with the pregame show at 10:45 am.