UL Softball Falls To Florida In Series Opener
The 9th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns stumbled on the road on Friday evening, on the opening of the final non-conference weekend.
Louisiana fell to the 6th-ranked Florida Gators, 6-0, in the opening game of a three-game, weekend, non-conference series among power programs in Gainesville, Florida.
The contest marked the 9th game of an 11-game road swing for UL.
With the setback, UL is now 3-4 against ranked schools this season.
Florida jumped on top early, scoring a run in the bottom half of the first inning, when Kendyl Lindaman doubled, before scoring on a single off the bat of Charla Echols, to give them a quick 1-0 lead.
Louisiana had plenty of chances in innings 1-4, despite coming away empty-handed, They had a runner at first with nobody out in the first, runners at first and second with no outs in the second, the bases loaded with one out in the third, and first and third with one out in the fourth, but failed to score each time.
The Gators extended their lead in the bottom half of the 4th inning when Jade Caraway reached after being hit by a pitch, before scoring on a two-out run-scoring single, to make it 2-0.
The Cajuns once again had traffic in the top of the 5th, with runners at first and second with only one out, but failed to score.
Florida added their final two runs in the bottom half of the 5th inning, when Lindaman belted a solo home run, her fourth of the season before Julia Cottrill came through with a two-out run-scoring single;e, to give them a 4-0 advantage.
Florida added two insurance runs in the bottom half of the 6th inning, courtesy of an RBI single by Charla Echols, to make it 6-0.
That was all the Gators needed, as they went on to the 6-0 triumph.
Louisiana, who was outhit by Florida, 9-5, left 8 runners on base.
Katie Chronister (1-0) recorded the win in the circle for the Gators, tossing 3.2 innings of shutout softball in relief.
Megan Kleist (5-4) suffered the loss for the Cajuns, allowing six runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings of work.
With the victory, Florida improved to 17-2 on the season, while Louisiana fell to 12-5.
The two teams resume the series on Saturday afternoon, with a single game beginning at noon (CDT).