UL Softball Weekly Review (February 22)

The 7th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajun softball team is coming off of another successful weekend, going 3-1 in the 30th Louisiana Classics at Lamson Park.

Louisiana split a pair of games against the 6th-ranked Oregon Ducks on Friday, winning the first game, 3-2, before dropping the second game, 6-3.

The Cajuns then defeated Oregon, 5-4, in the third and final meeting between the two schools in their lone game on Saturday, prior to crushing Central Arkansas in 5-inning, mercy-rule fashion on Sunday, 11-1.

Obviously, the three games against Oregon were the highlight of the weekend, and Louisiana came up with two enormous wins in the three games played between the two top ten titans.

Now, you can't put too much emphasis on three games this early in the season, but anytime you defeat a top ten team twice, it's huge.

Winning those two games could be the difference between being a top 8 national seed in the postseason and not being one.

Am I surprised? No. For those of you who have been living in a cave over the past couple of decades, this Louisiana softball program is really good, and they're really difficult to beat at home.

I actually had the Cajuns winning two of three against Oregon.

Not to tooting my own horn, as predictions mean zilch. But I do know how good this program has been, how good this coaching staff is, and how special this team can be.

I understand if you're impressed by what they did over the weekend. But I admit to being completely miffed if you're surprised by what they did.

Coming into the season, the big uncertainty about this Cajun team was the pitching. Well, Alex Stewart has certainly made fans feel a lot better about things in the early part of the season, especially with her work over the weekend.

The junior right-hander from Zionsville, Indiana beat Oregon twice in two outings over the weekend, and improved her record in 2016 to a perfect 5-0.

Maybe the most impressive statistic on Stewart so far, other than her 5-0 record and 1.50 ERA., is her throwing 28 innings without walking one single batter.

Something about the weekend about Stewart that shouldn't be overlooked is that she beat Oregon twice. In softball when you're a team's ace, sometimes you have to beat a team twice, which is hard to do, to help your team win a tough conference series, a regional, or even a Super Regional.

Stewart proved to the softball world that she's a staff "ace" in every sense of the word.

I also think Kylie Jo Trahan pitched better over the weekend than a lot of people realize.

Trahan, the sophomore from Burkburnett, Texas, suffered the loss in the 6-3 setback to the Ducks on Friday, but didn't pitch scared, and kept her team in the game.

If you remember, Oregon scored two runs in the first inning, after the Cajuns miscommunicated on a pop-up that could have, and should have, ended the inning without any runs crossing the plate.

Who knows how things would have turned out, but take away those two runs, and Oregon might have only scored four runs against Trahan, which was the same number they plated against Stewart on Saturday.

Trahan did bounce back, and was the winning pitcher in UL's 11-1 win over Central Arkansas on Sunday.

Again, it's entirely too early to jump to conclusions, but based on the way the Louisiana pitchers performed in the circle over the weekend, they showed that they are indeed capable of holding down an upper-level team.

Offensively, this team continues to shine.

Sure, they were shut out by Oregon's Cheridan Hawkins for 6 innings in the loss on Friday, but Hawkins is one of the top 5 pitchers in the country, and like most great hitting teams do, the Cajuns adjusted to her, scoring three runs in the 7th inning in that game, before knocking her out of the game, and saddling her with the loss on Saturday.

How about Sara Corbello?

The senior from Lake Charles was 4-for-8 over the weekend, including a homer, 3 runs batted in, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch, giving her 7 times she reached base in 11 plate appearances.

Lexie Elkins, as always, was superb, going 6-for-14 with 3 home runs.

A senior from Victoria, Texas, Elkins already has 8 homers and 18 RBI's, to go along with an impressive .552 batting average.

Junior second baseman Haley Hayden and senior first baseman Kelsey Vincent also contributed over the weekend, with Hayden driving home three runs in UL's win over Oregon on Saturday, while Vincent went 3-for-3, including a titanic homer in the win over Central Arkansas on Sunday.

The Louisiana offense has been incredible through the first 9 games of 2016, outhitting the opposition, .372/.242, while also holding down an 18/5 home run advantage.

The Cajuns will be busy this week, hosting Texas Tech in a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday, before hosting Rutgers and Alcorn St. in the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational over the weekend.

But take some time to enjoy this past weekend, one in which Louisiana should get a lot of praise for.