The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns have a big task in front of them and that’s the Baton Rouge Regional. Last year, they easily got to the regional final but were outclassed in the finals by LSU’s pitching staff. This team and the squad that got to Tiger Park last season are very different for a litany of reasons. You’ve got a new head coach, you don’t have the power hitters like DJ Sanders or Aleah Craighton, and they’re playing a very different style of softball. This team is taking some cues from the baseball team, manufacturing runs by any means necessary.
But for the time being, let’s look at Friday’s matchup against Houston. They have a similar method to their pitching staff with one consistent starter in Savannah Heebner (25-9, 1.17 ERA) You can expect her to be the workhorse in the tournament much like Summer Ellyson will be for the Cajuns. However, that might be a problem if they can make it to the tournament final. Just last week for the conference tournament, she threw a total of 270 pitches in three games.
The Cajuns will need to have that second pitcher ready to go in one of the other games they’ll have in the tournament if they want to make it to the super regionals. You look at the host team in LSU, they’ve had a balance all season long with Allie Walljasper (16-5, 1.00 ERA) and Carley Hoover (16-6, 1.26 ERA) having almost the same amount of starts on the season. You can even say they have a three-pitcher rotation with Maribeth Gorsuch (8-3, 2.23 ERA), who has started 13 of her 15 appearances this season. With that kind of depth in the world of college softball, the Tigers look prepared to go the distance. If I were giving a percentage chance for Cajuns softball to get to the next round, I’ll go 55% because of how this team has been set up with one true starter. All this being said, this season is still a success considering everything that the Cajuns team has been through.
-Clint Domingue