Ol’ college try; Ragin’ Cajuns end Cowgirls’ season in elimination game
Warre Arceneaux
BATON ROUGE — Mc-Neese State’s softball season ended when Louisiana-Lafayette beat the Cowgirls 4-0 in an elimination game Saturday night in the Baton Rouge Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cowgirls (35-26) beat George Washington 12-0 earlier in the day to stay alive but couldn’t put any offense together against the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Second-seeded ULL (46-11) advanced to face top-seeded LSU (34-19) in the championship round. LSU sent the Cajuns to the losers bracket with a 10-3 win in Saturday’s first game.
The Cajuns threatened in the top of the first, getting singles from Ciara Bryan and Kaitlyn Alderink to start the game. But Cowgirls starter Jenna Edwards escaped the jam with a fly ball and double play grounder.
ULL took the lead in the second inning when Jade Gortarez led off with a single and scored on a two-out home run to right field by Karly Heath.
In the bottom of the inning, the Cowgirls created their own twoout scoring chance with a walk and error to put runners at second and third, but Cajuns starter Summer Ellyson ended the inning with her fourth strikeout of the game.
The Cajuns added a run in the third when Bryan singled, stole second and scored on a double-play grounder to increase the Cajuns’ cushion to 3-0.
Ellyson ended the bottom of the inning the same way she did the first two, striking out a batter with a runner on base. The trend continued in the fourth, when Alayis Seneca reached on an infield single with one one out but failed to advance. Ellyson ended the inning with a pop-up and strikeout number six.
Cowgirls shortstop Cori McCrary saved a run in the top of the fifth, making an inning-ending diving catch on a line drive with a runner on third.
Whitney Tate relieved starter Whitney Tate (14-9) in the fourth and allowed one baserunner in her first three innings of work.
Ellyson was pulled after the fifth. She allowed four hits and one walk while striking out seven.
The Cajuns added a run in the seventh when McNeese made two errors on one play, allowing Julie Rawls to score from first.
The Cowgirls got their groove back, cleaning up a poor defensive performance from Friday in the elimination game.
McNeese scored three runs in the second inning. Perrin and Seneca led off with a pair of singles to left. After a Chloe Gomez sacrifice bunt, the Cowgirls twice executed the squeeze play with Aaliyah Ortiz bunting to score Perrin and Tayler Strother dropping one to score Seneca. Ortiz scored on a double steal, beating a throw home after McCrary took off for second.
The lead grew to 5-0 in the third inning. Perrin doubled to score Haylee Brinlee and Gomez singled to center with two outs to score Perrin.
McNeese tacked on three runs in the fourth inning. Kaylee Lopez drilled a double to left-center to score Strother and Jil Poullard. Brinlee hit a fielder’s choice to bring in Lopez.
A four-run fifth inning put the Cowgirls above the eight-run mercy rule threshold. Poullard and Perrin had RBI singled while a Lopez hit scored two.
Lopez and Perrin each had four hits and three RBIs. Seneca and Poullard finished with two each.
Starter Whitney Tatescattered five hits for Mc-Neese’s eighth shutout. The Cowgirls turned two double plays, extending their nation-leading total to 45. Sierra Lange (21-10) took the loss, giving up five runs on seven hits in three innings.
McNeese has won a game in each of its last four appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
McNeese State’s Haylee Brinlee of Rosepine makes contact against George Washington University during the Baton Rouge Regional of the NCAA Tournament Saturday at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge. Brinlee drove in a run. The Cowgirls were eliminated from the double-elimination tournament by Louisiana-Lafayette late Saturday.