Athletics: Foote – UL’s top postseason redemption stories

Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, May 26, 2015

 

UL sharpshooter Michael Allen (1991-94) especially enjoyed that memorable 1994 win over Western Kentucky as a Lexington, Ky. native.(Photo: Advertiser file photo)

 

It turned out being the brutal beginning to a storybook happy ending for the UL baseball team, but hard-core Ragin’ Cajun fans were forced to endure two of the most unlikely, heartbreaking postseason setbacks in athletic department’s history last week.

On Wednesday, the baseball team made two costly errors in the last inning to give an 8-7 win to Texas State in the Sun Belt Tournament opener.

On Friday, the softball team led 10-5 with two outs and two on in the bottom of the seventh in game one of the Super Regionals at Auburn, only to suffer through six straight walks (16 total) and eventually lose 12-11 in eight innings.

So that made me wonder where those two gut-wrenchers rank historically among agonizing postseason losses.

Also, the baseball team’s redemption story just might be the best one ever.

After requesting some input from Cajun fans on both themes, below are some of the suggestions (along with a few of my own) that stuck out the most in my mind in terms of the department’s most impressive redemption stories (in no particular order):

UL 65, Florida 64

(March 14, 1985)

It would be followed with one of the most heartbreaking losses in UL athletic history, but Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t know that on this special evening.

This win was redemption in many ways. For starters, UL’s men’s basketball program was coming off three straight postseason appearances at the time and had gone to the NIT Final Four in New York City the year before.

But as the regular season ended that year, the Cajuns lost their final five games to finish 16-13. Most thought it would end UL’s postseason streak, but the NIT smiled on the Cajuns not only with an NIT bid but with a home game.

Coach Bobby Paschal’s Cajuns smiled back with this thrilling one-point win over the Gators, thanks to Andrew Moten’s missed putback at the buzzer.

But there was also a different type of redemption on this night. Part of that five-game losing streak to end the regular season was to be the final home game at Blackham Coliseum before the big move to the Cajundome against old rival Louisiana Tech on Feb. 14.

The Bulldogs won that game 83-76 in overtime. Thanks to the surprise NIT berth, however, UL was able to give Blackham a more fitting final goodbye.

UL 78, WKU 72

(March 8, 1994)

In my mind, this was one of the best performances of the Marty Fletcher era at UL and on a short list of my favorite victories that I ever saw in Cajun basketball history.

During the 1993-94 regular season, the Hilltoppers beat the Cajuns 91-87 in Bowling Green and even worse in Lafayette, 78-62. The trip to E.A. Diddle Arena in 1993, for that matter, brought an embarrassing 121-92 loss.

And on this season, the Sun Belt Conference Tournament was at WKU. Fittingly, the two teams met in front of 10,878 in the SBC finals, so the Cajuns would have to conquer the Hilltoppers there to return to the NCAA Tournament.

The Cajuns led by eight early, by three at the half and then built up a 13-point lead in second half before holding off a late WKU charge. Byron Starks led the way with 23 points, followed by Michael Allen with 17 and Tony Moore with 15 for a truly satisfying victory.

UL 82, Georgia St. 81 (OT)

(March 16, 2014)

This one was fun.

It matched up two teams that didn’t particularly like one another.

Georgia State had entered the Sun Belt Conference with a bang, carrying a 24-7 overall and 17-1 league record into the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Tournament finals in New Orleans.

Georgia State had swept the Cajuns during the regular season – 77-70 in Lafayette and 80-77 in Atlanta. UL would not only achieve a huge measure of revenge, but did so in one of the most exciting and memorable postseason wins ever to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Xavier Rimmer led the way for the Cajuns with 27 points in the thrilling 82-81 overtime win that came one day after a 73-72 nailbiter over Western Kentucky.

Playing in his hometown, Elfrid Payton would score 19 points in his final Sun Belt Conference game. After losing to Creighton in the NCAA Tournament, he was drafted No. 10 overall in the NBA Draft.

UL 3, Washington 1

(May 21, 1995)

Redemption was twofold in this one.

For starters, the Cajuns had been swept on the final day of of the 1994 Lafayette Regional by Utah to postponed the program’s second Women’s College World Series apperance.

Also, it was UL’s fifth try at home to reach the WCWS. The first trip in 1993 came out of the Ann Arbor Regional in Michigan.

Consequently, it was past time for the Cajuns to do a little home cooking when Cheryl Longeway pitched all three games, finished up by this 3-1 win over Washington. Earlier in the regional, UL beat Nicholls State 5-1 and Washington 7-6.

UL 6, LSU 3

(May 18, 2008)

The proud UL softball program had lost to LSU 2-1 in the 2001 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, to LSU 5-2 in the 2002 Lafayette Regional and again to the Tigers 5-4 in the 2006 Baton Rouge Regional.

Moreover, the 2007 postseason was really subpar with 0-2 showings in both the Sun Belt Tournament and the College Station Regional.

So it felt especially sweet for the Cajuns in 2008 when Donna Bourgeois pitched UL past LSU 6-3 in the Baton Rouge Regional finals after beating East Carolina 2-1 and LSU 9-4 earlier in the first two games of that regional.

The Cajuns would go on to beat Houston on the road in the Super Regional and knock off No. 1 Florida in the first game of the Women’s College World Series, before falling 2-1 to Texas A&M and 3-1 to Alabama.