UL Softball Weekly Review

The 20th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajun softball team continued their recent dominance over the weekend, sweeping a three-game set from the Georgia Southern Eagles in Statesboro, Georgia.

Louisiana won the first game, 15-0, before capturing the second game, 10-0, prior to completing the sweep in the third game, 6-2.

The Cajuns, who have now won 15-consecutive conference games, while running their Sun Belt Conference series win streak to 32, dating back to 2013, improved to 26-5, overall, and 9-0 in league play.

The first thing that comes to mind from the weekend is that Louisiana hit the ball. They outscored Georgia Southern, 31-4, while smashing 5 home runs.

The was against a fairly decent Eagles team. After all, they entered the series only one game under .500, overall, and one game over .500 in league play.

The top part of the order produced for Louisiana, with Kara Gremillion, Hayley Hayden, and Aleah Craighton scoring 11 runs.

They set the tables for the middle of the order; DJ Sanders, Daniella Chavez, and Lexie Comeaux, who went a combined 12-for-25, to go along with two home runs and 14 RBI's

You can’t expect the middle of any batting order to put up those kind of numbers every weekend, but when they do, Louisiana is really difficult to beat.

Sanders now has 17 homers and 41 RBI’s, after another big weekend. She’s on pace to hit between 25-30 home runs this season.

Lexie Comeaux just continues to improve. The sophomore went 4-for-7 over the weekend, including a double, a homer, five runs scored, and four runs driven in. She not only has been the answer to the catcher question, but she may be on her way to some postseason honors.

There still needs to be more consistency, from top to bottom in the order, but the offense has shown improvement in three-consecutive weeks, and it's a big reason why the Cajuns are on a roll.

Again, the Cajuns averaged about 10 runs-per-game over the weekend. The game of softball just wasn’t designed for that much offense, especially on the road, in conference play, where there are no secrets.

Pitching-wise, Alex Stewart was as impressive as she’s been all year, in the first game on Saturday, and through the first three innings on Sunday. She recorded two wins, while allowing only 2 runs in 8 innings of work.

Alyssa Denham was also solid, picking up a win and a save.

Like the offense, I’d like to see more consistent pitching, but I certainly wouldn’t trade Stewart and Alyssa Denham for any other tandem in the conference.

Defensively, Louisiana didn't make an error all weekend, and made some nice plays, including an outfield assist from Hayley Hayden, who threw out a base runner attempting to go to third base. Just like with the offense and defense, it’s all a matter of developing consistency, and the defense was as consistent as it has been over any three-game stretch all season.

All in all, it was a terrific weekend. Anytime you sweep a conference series, especially on the road, it’s an accomplishment.

Louisiana has not only won 9-straight, but has distanced themselves from the rest of the league in the process, leading Texas St. and Georgia St. by three games in the loss column atop the conference standings.

This team has taken big strides over the last three weeks. Now, let’s hope it continues.

Next weekend, the Cajuns play host to the Troy Trojans at Lamson Park.

If Louisiana continues to make strides, that's bad news for Troy, and bad news for the rest of the league!