Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun softball team split a pair of games in the second full day of the 2014 NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida on Saturday, defeating the Hofstra Pride, 7-4, before falling to the USF Bulls, 8-5.

In the game against Hofstra, Louisiana jumped on top with a run in the bottom of the first inning, when Natalie Fernandez walked, and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Shellie Landry, giving them a 1-0 advantage.

Hofstra tied things in the top of the second, when Erin Trippi belted a solo home run, making it 1-1.

The Pride then took the lead in the fourth, when Maggie Hawkins connected on a solo homer, giving them a 2-1 advantage.

The Cajuns retook the lead in the fifth, when Shelbi Redfearn doubled home Fernandez, to tie the game, 2-2, before Landry delivered a clutch, two-out single, scoring Lexie Elkins, to give UL a 3-2 edge.

Louisiana, who was held hitless until the fifth, added four runs in the sixth, including solo home runs by Sara Corbello and Gabrielle Felps, to extend the lead to 7-2.

Hofstra scored two runs in the seventh inning, and brought the tying run to the plate, but the Cajuns held on for the 3-run win.

Redfearn led the way for UL, offensively, going 2-for-2, with 2 RBI's, while Landry drove in three runs.

Victoria Brown (1-0) picked up the win for the Cajuns, while Taylor Pirone (0-1) suffered the loss for the Pride.

With the win, Louisiana improved to 8-4-1 on the season, while Hofstra slipped to 1-1.

View the game box score.

 

In their second full game of the day, against USF, Louisiana scored five runs in the first inning off Bulls' starter Erica Nunn, with Samantha Walsh driving home two runs with a two-out double.

USF trimmed that lead to 5-2 with two runs in the second, courtesy of five walks, including two with the bases load, against UL starter Jordan Wallace.

The Bulls got a run closer in the third, when Stephanie Medina clobbered a solo home run over the right-field fence, cutting the deficit to 5-3.

USF scored two runs in the fourth to tie things, 5-5, before Ronnie Gajownik smacked a solo home run off of Christina Hamilton in the sixth, givving the Bulls their first lead of the game, 6-5.

The Bulls added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, when Ta'coia Williams launched a two-run homer, to make it 8-5.

That was all USF needed, as they handed Louisiana a 3-run defeat.

Fernandez and Walsh each had two hits for UL, who was outhit in the game, 9-6.

Sam Greiner (1-0), who pitched five innings of one-run ball, recorded the win for the Bulls, while Christina Hamilton (3-1) was tabbed with the loss for the Cajuns.

With the win, USF improved to 7-4, overall, and 3-0 in the tournament, while Louisiana fell to 85-1, overall, and 2-2 for the weekend.

View the game box score.

 

The Cajuns will wrap-up play in the tournament on Sunday, as they take on Rutgers at 10 am.

You can hear all the play-by-play action on Sports Radio ESPN 1420 & espn1420.com, beginning with the pre-game show at 9:45 am.

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