UL Softball Blanks McNeese In Fall Ball Play

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns captured a win on Thursday night, as part of their 2019 fall schedule.

The Cajuns blanked the McNeese Cowgirls, 12-0, in a 10-inning, single game match-up played at Lamson Park.

UL got on the scoreboard first, when sophomore Bailey Curry, who was playing first base in the first five innings, crushed a solo home run in the bottom half of the second inning, giving them a quick 1-0 lead.

Bailey, who reached in her first four plate appearances of the evening, is going to be fun to watch this season, giving the team a big power bat in the middle of the order; something that was missing last season.

After adding another run in the bottom half of the fourth inning, Louisiana basically put things away in the bottom half of the 5th, scoring five times, including a run-scoring single by Raina O'Neal, a sacrifice-fly by Alissa Dalton, and a two-run double off the bat of Casidy Chaumont.

A sophomore, who started a second base in the game, Chaumont looked good at the plate, collecting three hits in her first four at-bats.

The Cajuns pushed across four more runs in the bottom half of the 7th, including an RBI double off the bat of Lexie Comeaux, as well as a two-run double from Chaumont.

Summer Ellyson was already in regular season form, tossing three-hit shutout softball over 6 innings, while striking out 8 hitters.

Ellyson, who went 23-10 with a 1.53 ERA. last season, earning first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors, showed a really good change of pace, which could possibly make her even better in 2019.

Freshman Australian Kendra Lamb tossed a couple of shutout innings, and looked like she made serious strides from her first outing in the fall.

Julie Rawls, who recorded a couple of hits, looked good in her six innings of work behind the plate, with senior Lexie Comeaux seeing time in right-field, which allowed Rawls time to get some work in at catcher.

A transfer from Northwestern St., Rawls should become the first left-hander to catch for the Cajuns in recent memory.

Dalton had a big night at the plate, going 3-for-4 over her first four at-bats, including a single, double, triple, and a run batted in.

A first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection in 2018, Dalton could possibly be even better in 2019, if she pulls the ball more, as she did on Thursday evening, and adds more power to her game.

Louisiana returns to fall action on Saturday afternoon, when they host LSU-E at 1 pm at Lamson Park.