UL Softball Falls To Texas St. In SBC Title Game
The 21st-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns will have to wait until Sunday night to officially be one of the 64 teams named to play in this year's NCAA Softball Tournament.
Second-seeded Louisiana fell to the top-seeded Texas St. Bobcats, 5-2, in the title game of the Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship on Saturday afternoon at Lamson Park.
The victory earned the Bobcats their first Sun Belt Championship title.
The Cajuns, who failed in their bid to capture their 15th title in the 19 years of the tournament, fell to 58-9, all-time in the event.
UL, who won 2-of-3 against Texas St. in a three-game series earlier in the season, moved to 3-1 on the season against the Bobcats, after capturing a 1-0 win in the semifinals on Friday, before the Bobcats won the final game between the two on Saturday.
Texas St. got on the scoreboard first, scoring two runs, one of them of which was unearned, in the top half of the first inning.
After collecting three-straight singles to begin the frame, the Bobcats scored the game's first run on a run-scoring fielders choice ground ball off the bat of Tara Oltmann, before adding an unearned run on a botched rundown throw, giving them a quick 2-0 lead.
Louisiana tied it in the bottom half of the second inning, when Casidy Chaumont came through with a double, scoring Kourtney Gremillion and Kalyn Watts, to make it 2-2.
The Bobcats regained the lead in the top half of the 5th inning, scoring an unearned run, when Christiana McDowell singled, moved to second on a single by Brianna Sannem, and then crossed the plate on a fielding error, to give them a 3-2 advantage.
Texas St. put the game away in the top half of the 6th inning, when Haleigh Davis belted a two-run home run, her 6th of the season, to widen their lead to 5-2.
That was all that Texas St. would need, as they held on for the 5-2 win.
Texas St., who outhit Louisiana, 8-7 was paced at the plate by Sannem, who went 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Davis homered and drove home two runs.
In a losing cause for Louisiana, Kalyn Watts and Chaumont both collected two hits apiece.
Randi Rupp (27-10) recorded the win in the circle for the Bobcats, tossing 7.0 innings, allowing only two runs on seven hits, while walking one and striking out three.
Summer Ellyson (21-8) suffered the loss for the Cajuns, allowing five runs, including only three earned runs, on 7 hits over 5.1 innings pitched.
View the game one box score here.
With the victory, Texas St. improved to 42-14, while Louisiana fell to 38-14.
The Bobcats, with the triumph, receives at automatic bid into the NCAA Regionals.
The Cajuns, who unquestionably will receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Regionals, will find out where they will next play on Sunday evening, when the NCAA releases the 2018 NCAA Softball Tournament bracket.
You can hear all the play-by-play action of Louisiana Ragin' Cajun postseason softball on Sports Radio ESPN 1420 and espn1420.com.