MOBILE, Ala. – Summer Ellyson tossed six innings of no-hit ball and ninth-ranked Louisiana scored 14 runs on 13 hits to take the series finale over South Alabama, 14-0 Sunday afternoon at Jaguar Field.
UP NEXT
- South Alabama (11-18, 1-8 SBC) will head out on the road for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series against Appalachian State, beginning on Fri., (March 29) at 4 p.m. (CT). Games two and three will be Sat. (March 30) and Sun. (March 31) at 1 p.m. (CT) and 11 a.m. (CT), respectively at Sywassink / Lloyd Family Stadium.
Date: 3/24
Place: Jaguar Field (Mobile, Ala.)
Final Score: No. 9 Louisiana 14, South Alabama 0
Records: Louisiana (26-4, 9-0 SBC), South Alabama (11-18, 1-8 SBC)
Box Score
KEY MOMENT OF THE GAME
- Ellyson set the tone in the top of the first as she struck out the side and the Ragin' Cajuns then took a 1-0 lead the next half inning on Casidy Chaumont's RBI double.
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
- The Jaguars had just two base runners in the contest as Kennedy Cronan reached on a second-inning Ragin' Cajun error. Pinch-hitter Dayla Gulledge also walked in the sixth for South.
- Ellyson improved to 18-4 on the season and recorded her third career no-hitter as she struck out 12 and walked just one in her six innings in the circle.
- Sarah Hudek, Kara Gremillion, Chaumont and Alyssa Dalton each had two hits apiece as all 10 starters for the Ragin' Cajuns recorded a hit.
- Raina O'Neal added a two-run home run, while Bailey Curry (home run) and Chaumont also drove in three runs.
- In addition to her two hits, Dalton scored twice, drove in a pair and walked twice.
GAME FACTS
- Louisiana jumped out in front with a run in the second. With two away, Ka. Gremillion singled back up the middle and then came around to score on Chaumont's double to left, which came on a 1-2 pitch to give Louisiana the 1-0 advantage.
- The Jaguars had a chance to answer back with a scoring opportunity the next half inning. Ellyson struck out the first four Jaguar batters of the contest, but Cronan reached on a throwing error when Ka. Gremillion's throw from third was inside the line and became dislodged on the tag attempt. The ball darted out into right center, allowing Cronan to advance to second on the play. Pinch runner Caroline Nichols was then move around to third on a fly out to right, but Ellyson ended the inning as she got Lyric Cabral swinging for her fifth strikeout of the contest.
- Louisiana extended its lead to 5-0 in the top of the third with four runs on six hits. Dalton doubled off the top of the wall in center to begin the inning and then came around to score one batter later when O'Neal homered to center. O'Neal had been down 0-2 in the count, but worked it full before recording her eighth home run of the season. Hudek and Rawls both singled to put runners at the corners. Curry's sacrifice fly to center then scored Hudek, and with runners at first and third for the second time in the inning, Chaumont bounced a single back up the middle to bring in Rawls.
- Curry drove in her second run of the contest as she homered over the wall in left center – her sixth of the season – in the Cajun fifth to make it 6-0.
- The Ragin' Cajuns added another run later in the frame on a sacrifice fly to right by Chaumont. Jaguar freshman right fielder Victoria made an outstanding diving grab on the play and initially two runs were scored. On the appeal though, it was determined that had left the third base bag early, thus giving ULL the 7-0 lead.
- In the sixth, the visitors put the game away as they sent 13 batters to the plate, and scored seven runs on four hits.
- Kortney Gremillion gave Louisiana an eight-run advantage as she homered to straight-away center on the second pitch of the sixth. ULL then went on to plate six more runs on two bases-loaded walks, a pair of RBI singles and a run-scoring ground out.
NOTES
- Sunday's series finale marked the 45th meeting – 37th regular-season meeting – in the all-time series and the 20th series meeting in Mobile.
- South's Ortiz had her six-game hit streak come to an end as she was hitless in three at-bats.
- Brittani Reid also had her 21-game streak of reaching base safely come to an end.
- Of Ellyson's 12 strikeouts, 11 were swinging with the lone strikeout looking coming in the third, which was also the lone inning in which she didn't record multiple strikeouts.
- With their three home runs on Sunday, Louisiana finished the series with 10 for the weekend. The Ragin' Cajuns also scored multiple runs in 10 of the 18 innings in the series.
- The 14 runs scored by Louisiana are the most allowed to an opponent this spring, eclipsing the previous mark of 12 recorded by two opponents.
- The no-hitter thrown by Ellyson marked the first time since last season when LSU's Carley Hoover did so in Baton Rouge on April 24, 2018.
- The seven-run sixth tied for fourth-most runs allowed in a single inning in program history and the second time this season and opponent has done so. Western Kentucky scored seven in the top of the first inning against the Jaguars during the opening weekend of the spring.
THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On what can be taken from this weekend series: "I think you take this weekend and you get better. If you want to have better results, you play better. There are a lot of little things that we can do better, and all those little things add up to a big thing. There's no magic formula; you've just got to do the little things and play well. We are a program that knows how to do that, so it's a matter of us getting to that point."
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear. All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub.
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