What UL Softball Needs To Do More Of On Offense

What does the Louisiana Ragin' Cajun softball team need to do more of when Sun Belt Conference play opens next weekend?

Hit more home runs.

Louisiana has been hitting, just not for much power.

As a team, the Cajuns are hitting a .298, which ranks third in the league, behind only ULM (.320) and Georgia St. (.317), but they rank 9th out of ten teams in home runs, with only 5.

Through four weeks of the season, only South Alabama has fewer homers, with four, than Louisiana, who has had out-homered by the opposition, 11-5.

Sunday, in their 1-0 loss to Baylor, UL was solid at the plate, accumulating 8 hits off of Gia Rodoni, a very good pitcher. The problem was that all of the hits were singles, and when you hit only singles, it sometimes takes as many as three in an inning to score just one run.

This weekend will be interesting, as the Cajuns open Sun Belt Conference play against Coastal Carolina, who leads the league with 27 long balls, 22 more than Louisiana.

Understand however; the Chanticleers haven't played much of a schedule thus far.

Only three UL players have homered so far, with freshman Casidy Chaumont leading the way, with three.

The good news is that Louisiana is 12-5, without hitting a lot of homers.

The loss of sophomore second baseman Brittany Holland was huge, as she was expected to provide some much needed power to the lineup, but UL has scored runs by being aggressive on the bases.

I do think they'll hit for more power over the final three months. Chaumont, Alissa Dalton, Beth Ashley, Lexie Comeaux, and Kourtney Gremillion are all capable of getting on a roll and hitting some homers in bunches.

Hopefully, the opening conference series will be the start of a long win streak for the Cajuns, and breaking out power bats could go a long way to helping them do just that.