Softball: Cajuns’ Orgeron still crushing the ball

Brady Aymond • baymond@theadvertiser.com • April 25, 2009

When UL redshirt freshman Christi Orgeron was going through the recruiting process, the toughest decision was an internal one.

Orgeron’s final decision was narrowing it down to one sport – soccer or softball.

The former Mount Carmel standout believes she made the right decision.

"For sure, I’m lucky enough to get to do something I love everyday with people who are awesome and teammates who love each other," Orgeron said. "I definitely miss soccer, especially since my roommate is on the soccer team. But I kind of get to live through her."

Orgeron decided during her senior year to just focus on softball and chose UL over Louisiana Tech. The Cajun offer came as a surprise to Orgeron, who hit .423 with 45 doubles, 21 homers and 131 RBIs in her prep career.

"It was probably in my senior year that I decided I was going to try to pursue softball," Orgeron said. "Then I just had a great opportunity with coach Mike (Lotief).

"It was really weird how it all happened. I had only played travel ball one summer. I was surprised, just because I hadn’t been exposed to that high of a level. I thank coach Mike all the time for having faith in me."

Orgeron actually contemplated playing both sports at UL, but realized softball wasn’t a part-time job.

"I actually talked to the soccer coach from UL about playing here," Orgeron said. "It was after I had signed with softball, he had asked if I would come and try. I was, but softball is a full-time job.

"I wanted to do both, but that was before I knew all the work you had to put into it at this level in order to be good. Now I know there was no way I could have done it, but as a senior in high school, I was like ‘Yeah, I’m going to get to do both.’"

It’s easier to miss soccer these days as Orgeron is swinging the hottest stick on the team, coming off a week in which she hit .474 with three homers and eight RBIs.

She continued it on Tuesday, belting another homer to give her five homers on the season.

"We just have a plan and I just trust the plan alot," Orgeron said. "Even sometimes if I’m early or late, I swing the way I know how. All I can do is try to put what I’m practicing into the games.

"The swing is a feeling for sure. When you have the feeling, it’s about being able to reproduce it and do it over and over again."

Orgeron and the Cajuns (32-10, 13-5) are hoping it continues this weekend as they travel to Denton for a big three-game series with North Texas (25-23, 11-9).

Thanks for Florida Atlantic’s sweep of Western Kentucky, the Cajuns now lead the conference standings by three games.

"We don’t really base all of our outcomes on what happens with everything else," Orgeron said. "We know we have bigger goals and what’s important is that we keep working. Even if we have setbacks or we have success, we need to continue to build.

"Everyone has a lot of expectations for our team, we have a lot of expectations for ourselves. We hold ourselves to our own standards. We know what we need to get done and we have that common goal that we want to be in Oklahoma City."