Softball: Cajuns Capture Sun Belt Championship in Statesboro

Game 1 Box Score (PDF)
Game 2 Box Score (PDF)

STATESBORO, Ga. – The No. 8-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns softball team captured the outright Sun Belt Conference championship on Saturday following a 5-0, 12-1 (6 inn.) doubleheader sweep of Georgia Southern at Eagle Field.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns (37-6, 18-1 Sun Belt) earned the program’s third consecutive championship and 14th in the 16 seasons of league competition since 2001.
 
No. 8 Louisiana broke a scoreless tie and scored all the runs it needed in Game 1 with a five-run third inning highlighted by a two-run double from DJ Sanders and two-run single by Kara Gremillion. Alex Stewart retired the first nine batters she faced, struck out eight and held Georgia Southern (28-24, 11-9 Sun Belt) to three hits over six scoreless innings.
 
Sara Corbello homered twice and drove in four runs as Louisiana built a 7-0 lead in Game 2 and Sanders capped the scoring with a grand slam in the sixth inning. Stewart pitched five more scoreless innings in steering the Ragin’ Cajuns to the outright SBC title.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns and Eagles close out their three-game Sun Belt series on Sunday in a 12 p.m. (CDT) single game, weather permitting.
 
Sanders (.308, 16 HR, 50 RBI) posted multiple RBI in both games of the doubleheader, totaling six RBI on the day. The production increased her season RBI total to 50 – the first Cajun to reach the mark this season. She boosted her Sun Belt-only RBI total to 28.
 
Corbello (.327, 11 HR, 26 RBI), who finished 3-for-3 at the plate in Game 2, tied career-high totals in hits (3), RBI (4) and home runs (2) and reached double digits in home runs for the first time in her career. She recorded her first multiple-home run game since May 4, 2013 at ULM, first three-hit game since March 2014 vs. Chattanooga in Gulfport, Miss., and fifth career outing of four RBI.
 
Stewart (22-3, 1.56 ERA) remained undefeated in Sun Belt games, improving her conference-only mark to 13-0. The shutout in the opener was the 10th she was involved in (5 solo, 5 combined) and she reached eight strikeouts for the eighth time.
 
Haley Hayden (.370, 7 HR, 38 RBI) posted her team-leading 15th multiple-hit game (2-for-4 in Game 1) and a single in the sixth inning of the nightcap extended her current hitting streak to a personal season-high seven games. Hayden has delivered a hit in 34 of 43 games this season and has gone the entire season without consecutive hitless games.
 
After leaving two on base in the first inning and being retired in order in the second inning of the opener, the Ragin’ Cajuns chipped away at Georgia Southern starting pitcher Dixie Raley in the third inning.
 
Taylor Terrio was hit by a pitch leading off the inning, then Hayden and Shellie Landry deposited singles into left field loading the bases with no outs. Kelsey Vincent coaxed a walk from Raley to bring home the game’s first run.
 
Raley would strike out Aleah Craighton, but Sanders picked her up with a double into the left center gap plating Hayden and pinch runner Kelli Martinez for a 3-0 edge. Corbello popped up to second base for the second out, but Raley wasn’t out of trouble as Gremillion rifled a single down the right field line to plate two additional runs.
 
The Eagles replaced Raley in the circle with Heather Felt who was able to keep the Ragin’ Cajuns scoreless in their final four at bats.
 
Stewart kept the upper hand, retiring GASO in order in the third inning and then not allowing a runner past second base despite the hosts collecting three singles from the fourth through sixth.
 
It was a similar script in the finale with no score through two innings. Stewart fended off four GASO runners that reached base to hold the tie until the Cajuns broke through in the third inning.
 
Kierra Camp, who stranded four Cajuns runners through the first two innings, was unable to fend off a two-out, five-run uprising that started with a walk by Craighton who moved to second and third base on passed balls and scored on an errant throw that was aimed to chase her back to the third base bag during a steal of second by Sanders.
 
Corbello’s first home run of the contest followed on the very next pitch increasing the advantage to 3-0. The Ragin’ Cajuns added two more runs before Camp could escape on a throwing error off a grounder by Brittany Nollkamper and a bunt single from Kassidy Zeringue.
 
Louisiana began to pull away in the fifth inning as Corbello posted her second two-run homer of the game giving the visitors a 7-0 lead. An inning later, the run-rule margin was reached on a RBI single by Vincent and Sanders added a grand slam off of Felt who was making her second relief appearance of the twinbill.
 
DIAMOND NOTES: The doubleheader sweep gave Louisiana the series victory marking the 28th consecutive Sun Belt series win which is a school and Sun Belt record…Saturday’s games marked the first series meetings between the two programs in Statesboro…Louisiana increased its series lead to 7-0 which includes a 5-0 mark in Sun Belt games…The three home runs in Game 2 brought the team season total to 90 allowing the Ragin’ Cajuns to reach the mark for the third straight season (2014-16) and fourth time under Michael Lotief (102 in 2006; 90 in 2014; 116 in 2015)…Sara Corbello became the sixth different Cajuns player to reach double digits in home runs with her 10th of the season coming in the third inning of Game 2…Corbello tallied three hits in the twinbill upping her season total to 32 which is her highest output since posting 50 hits as a freshman in 2013…The Ragin’ Cajuns pitching staff did not allow an earned run in 13 innings of work and has yielded only 20 earned runs in 117 innings in Sun Belt Conference play…The pitching staff lowered its season ERA to 1.85 while the shutout in Game 1 was the 17th of the season…Alex Stewart, who earlier this season tossed 36 straight scoreless innings in Sun Belt play, extended her current string of scoreless innings in league play to 18-1/3 innings by tossing 11 scoreless frames…Kara Gremillion fielded nine chances without an error extending her current string of error-free games to 10 (had a string of 21 straight error-free games earlier in the season from Feb. 26-Apr. 3)… For the season, Gremillion has committed only three errors over 121 chances (48 PO, 70 A, 3 E, .975 FLD%)…Alex Stewart did not allow a walk in her 11 innings and has given up just 20 walks through 153 innings pitched this season…Stewart has pitched walk-free in each of her last five appearances (since App State series opener), a span of 19 innings.