UL Softball Defeats Georgia St. In SBC Tournament

The 21st-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns kicked-off postseason play on a high note on Thursday afternoon.

Louisiana defeated the Georgia St. Panthers, 4-1, in the second day of play in the Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship at Lamson Park.

UL scored two unanswered runs, including the game-winning run in the bottom half of the 7th inning to earn a spot in the winners bracket finals.

Louisiana, the #2-seed in the tournament, drew a first-day bye.

With the victory, the Cajuns, who have won 14-of-18 titles since the tournament first began back in 2000, improved to 57-8 all-time in the event.

UL, who won 2-of-3 against Georgia St. in a three-game series earlier in the season, moved to 3-1 on the season against the Panthers.

Georgia St. got on the scoreboard first, scoring a run in the top half of the second inning, when Skylar Mosel singled with one out, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a two-out infield single off the bat of Remington Hasty, to give them a 1-0 lead.

The score stayed that way until the bottom half of the 6th inning, when Louisiana tied it, after Kelli Martinez began the frame with a walk, advanced to second on an Alissa Dalton walk, and then scored on a pinch-hit single off the bat of Jolie Readeaux, that tied the game, 1-1.

The Cajuns won it in the bottom half of the 7th inning, with two outs and nobody on, when Martinez singled, advanced to second on a single by Kara Gremillion.

That brought Dalton to the plate, who grounded to short, but the Georgia St. shortstop Mosel got tied up with Martinez, and thew late to second, and past second baseman Kirsten McMonigle, allowing Martinez to score, giving them the thrilling 2-1 win.

Louisiana, who was outhit by Georgia St., 6-5, was paced at the plate by Martinez, who went 2-for-2 with two walks, while Readeaux and Dalton were credited with RBI's.

Ellyson (20-7) recorded the win in the circle for the Cajuns, allowing only one run 5 hits over 7.0 innings.

Amanda Chance (12-9) suffered the loss for the Panthers, allowing one run on two hits over 1.1 innings of relief.

View the game one box score here.

With the victory, Louisiana improved to 37-13, while Georgia St. fell to 31-23.

The Cajuns next advance to the finals of the winners bracket where they will face top-seeded Texas St., who shutout Troy, 1-0, on Friday morning at 11 o'clock.

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.