UL Softball Defeats Houston, Extends Win Streak

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns captured another victory on Wednesday evening, extending their longest win streak since the 2019 college softball season.

14th-ranked Louisiana captured a non-conference triumph over the Houston Cougars, 12-5, in Houston, Texas.

Louisiana broke open a 5-5 game by scoring seven unanswered runs to end the game and leave with the win.

The game, which marked the seventh game of a ten-game road trip for the Cajuns, extended their current win streak to 14 games.

Houston got on the scoreboard first, scoring a run in the bottom half of the first inning, courtesy of a solo home run by Lindsey Stewart, her first of the season, which gave them a quick 1-0 lead.

Louisiana scored their first two runs of the game in the top half of the second inning, plating two runs on three hits, including a run-scoring triple off the bat of Sophie Piskos, which gave them a 2-1 lead.

The Cajuns added to their lead in the top half of the fifth inning when they tacked on an unearned run when Kendall Talley reached on an error, before later scoring on a clutch two-out single by Julie Rawls, which widened the lead to 3-1.

The score stayed that way until the bottom half of the fifth inning when the Cougars took the lead, scoring four runs, including a two-run homer by Stewart, her second of the game, as well as another two-run homer by Britaney Shaw, her fifth of the season, which gave them a 5-3 lead.

Louisiana came back, however, taking the lead for good in the top half of the sixth inning, scoring six runs on four hits, including a two-run homer by Jade Gortarez, her seventh of the season, which gave them a 9-5 advantage.

The Cajuns added three insurance runs in the top half of the seventh inning, courtesy of a three-run homer by Melissa Mayeux, her third of the year, to make it 12-5.

That was more than enough for UL, as they went on to the 12-5 victory, extending their win streak in the process.

Louisiana, who outhit Houston, 13-7, was led at the plate by Gortarez, who went 2-for-4, including a home run and two runs batted in, to go along with Mayeux, who homered and drove in four runs.

In a losing cause for Houston, Stewart homered twice and drove in three runs..

Summer Ellyson (11-4) recorded the win in the circle for the Cajuns, her 85th career victory, allowing three runs on four hits over 2.0 innings of relief duty.

Rachel Hertenberger (5-6) suffered the loss for the Cougars, allowing seven runs on five hits over 1.1 innings.

View the game box score.

With the victory, Louisiana improved to 29-6 on the season, while Houston dropped to 10-2.

The Cajuns return to the diamond on Friday evening when they travel to Troy, Alabama to take on the Troy Trojans in the opening game of a three-game, weekend, Sun Belt Conference series.