The #8 seed Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns fell to the #1 seed ULM Warhawks 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Lamson Park in Lafayette on Thursday. With the loss, Louisiana is eliminated from the SBC Tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After the dominant performance from Sage Hoover helped Louisiana along to a 5-0 win over Troy in the first round, Louisiana was tasked with taking on the regular season champion Warhawks. ULM went with their ace pitcher Ashanti McDade. She allowed two baserunners, but worked out of the first.
Louisiana went with Bethaney Noble to start, and she matched McDade’s zero. It appeared quickly like runs would be at a premium in this game.
Both pitchers matched each other inning for inning, with little to no traffic on the base paths. It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth that the Warhawks would truly threaten. It began with a bunt single. Then, an error on what was a ball hit right to Haley Hart put runners on the corners with no one out.
Alyson Habetz went to Julianne Tipton to try to work out of trouble and keep the scoreless tie. She was able to get the first out, but an infield RBI fielder’s choice by Olivia Faggard and a sacrifice fly from Hollie Thomas gave ULM a 2-0 advantage through five innings.
In the bottom half of the sixth, ULM added insurance. They got an RBI single from Meagan Brown to make it 3-0.
That would be all McDade needed. She cruised to a complete game shutout, delivering a victory for the top seeded Warhawks.
BIG NUMBER: 2
The Cajuns made two defensive errors, and the second directly led to two ULM runs. There was also a play that was not ruled an error, but still should have kept the game scoreless.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ashanti McDade
The ULM ace was as advertised in this game. She kept the Cajuns quiet, allowing just four hits and no runs in the Warhawk victory.
UP NEXT: Louisiana sees their season come to a close with a record of 29-27. ULM moves to tomorrow’s semifinals.