UL Softball Downs ULM

The 21st-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns kicked-off their final weekend of regular action in fine fashion on Friday evening.

Louisiana defeated the ULM Warhawks, 1-0, in 14 innings, in Sun Belt Conference play at Lamson Park, improving their home record to a sparkling 23-5 on the season.

Summer Ellyson twirled a gem, throwing 14 shutout innings, while Brittany Rodriguez delivered a walkoff single in the bottom half of the 14th inning, to help the Cajuns to the win in their longest game of the year, while moving their record in extra innings to 7-3.

The 14-inning tilt was the sixth time this season that UL has played a game that went 11 innings or more.

The contest represented the first game of a three-game, conference series, which represents the final games of the regular season for both squads.

The triumph means the Cajuns need to win only one of the games in Saturday's doubleheader to extend their conference series win streak, which dates back to March of 2013, to 46-straight.

It was a pitcher's duel for much of the contest between Summer Ellyson and ULM's Paige Murray, before Louisiana finally ended things in the bottom of the 14th, on a single up the middle by Rodriguez, scoring Casidy Chaumont, who had reached on an error to open the frame.

Their unearned run was enough, as the Cajuns walked away with the 1-0 win.

UL had other opportunities, leaving seven runners on, combined, in innings 11-13.

Louisiana, who outhit ULM, 11-5, was paced at the plate by Dalton, who went 3-for-3, while Rodriguez drove home the game-winner.

Ellyson (18-7) recorded the win in the circle for the Cajuns, tossing 14 shutout innings, while striking out 18.

Jesse Watts (5-6) suffered the loss for the Warhawks, allowing one unearned run on four hits over 3.0 innings of work.

View the game one box score here.

With the victory, Louisiana improved to 34-13, overall, and 19-6 in Sun Belt Conference play, while ULM fell to 24-26, and 10-15, respectively.

The two teams will conclude their three-game set with a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 1 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 12:45 pm.