USA vs. ULL 3 box score

LAFAYETTE, La. – The University of South Alabama softball team dropped its first Sun Belt Conference series of the season to No. 8 Louisiana-Lafayette 3-0 in game three Saturday afternoon at Lamson Park.

“All weekend our pitching and our defense were solid,” said USA head coach Becky Clark. “The kids battled at the plate. We had a hard time getting the hit when we needed it. Some of that is stuff we need to work on, and some of that is their pitchers. That’s a very good pitching staff. When you’re No. 8 in the country it’s usually because you have good pitching. That’s the case with ULL. We know they have a good pitching staff, but we’re also a better offensive club than what we showed this weekend. It’s big for us to realize we’re better than what we just did and we’ll go back home and work on some things we need to work on.”

The Ragin’ Cajuns improve to 33-1 on the year and 8-1 in the SBC. The Jaguars are now 24-12 overall and 11-5 in conference play.

“Overall, our effort was great,” said Clark. “The kids played hard and they competed. Our pitchers and catchers had a great weekend. They did a really good job of executing the game plan and the defense was phenomenal. We’ve just got some things that we need to work out from an offensive stand point, but it’s there and we just need to go home and get it figured out.”

ULL freshman right-handed pitcher Jordan Wallace (18-0) remains undefeated while sophomore lefty Hannah Campbell fell to 14-8 overall. H. Campbell struck out three, allowed seven hits and three earned runs in the contest.

The Ragin’ Cajuns outhit the Jags 7-2 and scored two in the second and one in the fifth to secure the win and the series sweep. A pair of freshman put up USA’s only hits of the game. Catcher Alex Breeden and designated player Blair Johnson recorded lead-off singles in the fourth and the fifth innings, respectively.

Louisiana Lafayette took the early lead again today scoring two in the bottom of the second. After USA got the first two ULL batters out, four consecutive singles by Sarah Draheim, Erikka Murphy, Natalie Fernandez and Katie Smith brought Draheim and Murphy home giving the Ragin’ Cajuns the 2-0 lead. South Alabama ended Louisiana-Lafayette’s attack when the next batter, Nerissa Myers, grounded out to Jaguar short stop Brittany Fowler.

Johnson led off the fourth inning with a single to left, and then advanced to second off a Christin Crocker sacrifice bunt, but the Ragin’ Cajuns secured the final two outs of the inning before the Jags could do any damage to their 2-0 lead.

Breeden opened play in the fifth with a single to left center giving South Alabama another opportunity to score. Sophomore Julie Moss came in to run for Breeden before Wallace issued her first walk of the game to sophomore Haley Richards moving Moss to second. After freshman Kaitlyn Griffith pinch ran for Richards, an Alyssa Linn sacrifice bunt pushed the runners to second and third, but Wallace worked her way out of the jam striking out junior Britany Campbell and getting junior Brittany Fowler to fly out to center.

With one out in the bottom of the home half of the fifth inning, ULL first baseman Matte Hack hit a solo shot over the right field fence putting the Ragin’ Cajuns on top 3-0.

The Jags will look to rebound Thursday when they travel to Tallahassee, Fla. to take on No. 21/22 Florida State at 5 p.m.

“It’s awesome for us to head right into another ranked opponent,” Clark said. “It’s good for us. You play these tough games and you get better. There are things from this weekend that we’ll take away from this that we got better at during the game. We want to be a post season team, and, if we want to be a post season team, we’ve got to figure some of these things out. I think it’s great, and I think it’s great that we have to go play them on the road too. All that stuff just makes you tougher and, at the end of the year, when you’ve been through it and you know what all that stuff looks like it pays off.”

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).