MOBILE, Ala. – The 22nd-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns softball team remained in the winners category of the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Softball Tournament after claiming a 9-1 (5 inns) win over Troy Thursday morning at Jaguar Field of Mobile.

The Ragin’ Cajuns (43-11) had 10 different players after at least one hit and Sam Landry used just 64 pitches and faced just five over the minimum to earn a win in his Sun Belt Tournament debut.

Louisiana extended its winning streak to a season-high 11 games and won for the 20th time in its last 21 outings.

Next up is the SBC Tournament Winners Group Final on Friday, May 13 at 10:00 a.m. Louisiana is set to face Texas State (37-17), winners of South Alabama in the other half. final of the group of winners, for a place in the championship on Saturday. Game.

HOW DID IT HAPPEN
After a scoreless first inning, the Trojans (30-20) struck first on a two-out RBI single from Kennedi Gaton in the second inning.

Louisiana’s deficit was short-lived as the first Samantha Graeter and Raina O’Neal took advantage of illegal pitches thrown by Leanna Johnson to each draw a walk to start the bottom of the second, then Maddie Hayden smashed the ball along the left field line, which allowed the two to score for a 2-1 advantage.

The Ragin’ Cajuns added two more runs before the end of the second inning, then the biggest blow of the afternoon came in the third thanks to a two-run homer from O’Neal that extended the advance to 6-1.

Landry (5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K) kept the momentum going for the Louisiana side after a scoreless third inning by striking out the last six Trojans batters she faced.

The Ragin’ Cajuns’ early exit was accomplished by a pair of manufactured runs in the fourth inning and an inside-the-park home run. taylor roman in the fifth inning.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BOX SCORE
Both Hayden and O’Neal went 2-for-2 at the plate to lead Louisiana’s 12-hit offense. Hayden won his 14th multi-hit game of his freshman college season.

O’Neal had a season-high three RBIs and homered for the third time since returning from injury on April 29.

The Ragin’ Cajuns drove in nine hits on their last three bats and finished the game averaging .500 (12 for 24). The team reached double hits for the 29th time.

Landry (19-3, 2.23 ERA) earned his 19th team-leading win, overall. She retired the team in order in three of the five innings she worked to defeat the Trojans for the third time this season.

THIS AND THAT

• Louisiana improved to 67-9 (.882) all-time in the Sun Belt conference tournament. The Ragin’ Cajuns went undefeated (9-0) in tournament games played in Mobile.
• Thursday’s match marked the first Sun Belt tournament contest against Troy since the 2011 event held in Lafayette at Lamson Park.
• The Ragin’ Cajuns had five extra hits (2 doubles, triples, 2 homers) to bring their total number of extra hits in the Sun Belt Tournament to nine (5 doubles, triples, 3 homers).
• In three appearances against Troy, Sam Landry drove in just two runs and eight hits in 18 innings of work. It limited Trojans to an average of 0.125.
• In their first two games of the Sun Belt Tournament, the Ragin’ Cajuns received at least one base hit from 13 different players.
• The Ragin’ Cajuns’ batting average in the first two outings of the Sun Belt Tournament is .420 (21 for 50).

NEXT

Louisiana meets Texas State on Friday, May 13 at 10:00 a.m. in the winners group final of the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Softball Tournament at Jaguar Field in Mobile, Alabama.

The battle for the first team to reserve a spot in Saturday’s championship game at 2:30 p.m. features the two best teams in the conference — 11-game straight winners Louisiana and winners Texas State of 17 consecutive games.

This will be the fifth time in the last six occurrences of the event that the Ragin’ Cajuns and Bobcats have met in the SBC Tournament Winners Group Finals (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022).

Louisiana won the season series with Texas State behind Sam Landry and Meghan Schorman combining for a shutout in Game 1 and a 10-1 (5 hostels) win in Game 2. The Bobcats avoided the sweep with a sixth-inning rally in the Finals.

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