LAKE CHARLES – Karly Heath packed a punch at the plate, opening and completing the scoring, and the pitching staff closed the door shut as the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball team posted a commanding 7-0 win over McNeese on Tuesday, April 4 at Joe Miller Field at Cowgirl Diamond in Lake Charles.
Heath provided Louisiana (27-10) with a quick lead, homering in the game’s second at bat. The home run jumpstarted a three-run inning that put the pitching staff in control before any of the arms entered the circle.
The Ragin’ Cajuns lockdown effort in the circle started with Sam Landry who induced a double-play ball to work around a one-out single in the first inning and then proceeded to hurl four scoreless innings at the Cowgirls.
Beginning with Landry retiring the side in order in the third inning, Louisiana’s pitchers would retire 15 of the final 16 batters that McNeese (26-11) sent to the plate. Chloe Riassetto and Kandra Lamb polished off the final three innings of the contest with a two-out walk in the sixth inning being the lone blemish.
The pinpoint control in the circle from the Cajuns pitchers, who allowed only one Cowgirls batter to reach base the final five innings, upheld the edge the squad had built to 4-0 after Alexa Langeliers homered to lead off the second inning.
Heath’s second home run of the night was a two-run lift job over the left field wall that capped off a three-run seventh inning that punctuated the team effort that produced the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 18th win away from Lamson Park this season.
Heath’s two-homer outing produced a game-high three RBI. She increased her season home run total to a team-best nine and reclaimed the team lead in RBI running her season total up to 27.
Langeliers and Laney Credeur each posted two-hit efforts in joining Heath in leading the charge in Louisiana’s nine-hit attack. Langeliers homered for the second straight game, collecting her eighth home run, and Credeur posted her sixth multiple-hit game of the season.
Landry (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K), Riassetto (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K) and Lamb (2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K) combined for the one-hit shutout – the Ragin’ Cajuns 11th shutout pitched in the 2023 season.
The win followed up Louisiana’s impressive road Sun Belt series sweep at James Madison and upped the squad’s winning streak to four games heading into a pivotal SBC series with South Alabama at Lamson Park over Easter Weekend.
The Ragin’ Cajuns competed the sweep of the annual home-and-home midweek series with McNeese and collected their third win over the Cowgirls this spring (also won in Texas’ Longhorn Invitational).
Louisiana moved to 9-2 vs. McNeese in the Gerry Glasco era, avenged a 13-inning loss to the Cowgirls last season in Lake Charles, and increased its all-time series lead to 108-26.
UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns face off with South Alabama (25-10, 8-1 SBC) in a pivotal three-game Sun Belt Conference series at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park that’s currently scheduled to run from Thursday-Saturday, April 6-8.
The USA continues Louisiana's stretch of conference series that will have implications on the title race. The Ragin' Cajuns and Jaguars will battle for the right to remain near the top of the SBC standings as the league schedule reaches the halfway point.
Television coverage is being provided by ESPN+ and radio coverage is available on 103.3 FM The Goat and the Varsity Network.
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