LAFAYETTE, La. – The No. 3 seeded University of South Alabama softball team saw its tournament run come to an end Friday night as the Jaguars fell to top-seeded tournament host Louisiana-Lafayette at Lamsom Park in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
With the loss, the Jaguars fall to 37-18 on the year and will now wait to see if they will earn an at-large selection to the NCAA tournament. The tournament field is set to be announced Sunday evening at 9 p.m. on ESPNU. The Ragin’ Cajuns improved to 48-9 overall and advance to Saturday’s championship game.
Ashley Brignac (29-5), the league’s pitcher of the year, recorded a no-hitter for ULL, allowing just one base runner on a walk and striking out four Jaguar batters.
Offensively, UL-Lafayette was led by Fernandez with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate scoring two and driving in one. Gabriele Bridges also recorded one hit and four RBI.
Jaguar starter Lindsey Croft (8-5) took the loss in 2.1 innings of work, allowing three hits, six walks and five runs.
The Jaguars only scoring opportunity came in the top of the second. USA third baseman Christin Crocker reached on an error by ULL second baseman Paige Cromier to begin the inning and Carolina Mendoza was then hit by a pitch. Meghan Collins then reached on a fielder’s choice as Mendoza was thrown out at second and Crocker advanced to third. ULL’s Brignac then struck out the final USA batter to get out of the jam.
ULL scored two runs on two hits in the bottom of the second. Centerfielder Brianna Cherry led off the bottom half of the inning with a single to left center and then advanced to second on a ground out from Megan Granger. Natalie Fernandez followed with a single down the third base line to advance Cherry third. The next batter, Katie Smith, drew a walk to load the bases and with one out, Nerissa Myers drove in the first run of the game when she drew a walk to score Cherry. Christi Orgeron drove a sac fly to deep right to plate Fernandez and give the Ragin’ Cajuns a 2-0 lead.
Louisiana-Lafayette broke the game open in the bottom of the third, plating seven runs on four hits. Taryn Broussard would plate the first run of the inning for the Cajun’s with a RBI single up the middle to score Cromier. Fernandez recorded the next RBI with a single down the right field line to bring Cherry home. After the second Jaguar pitching change of the inning, Hannah Campbell came in with the bases loaded and two batters later, Orgeron reached on a fielder’s choice to plate Fernandez. Bridges then hit her NCAA-leading fourth grand slam of the season to give ULL a 9-0 advantage. The home run set a new single-season NCAA record and gave Bridges six-grand slams for her career, tying her for second-most in NCAA history.
ULL tacked on one more run in the bottom of the fourth to give Louisiana-Lafayette the 10-0 victory.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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