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Softball: Brignac deliversKevin Foote, Daily Advertiser, May 21, 2012 When Ashley Brignac began this season for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns, she really didn’t know what to expect. That may sound a bit strange for a fifth-year senior who has done all that Brignac has achieved during his illustrious softball career. But not everything was the same for Brignac. At the time, it was her and a bunch of inexperienced arms, some who might actually now throw harder than Brignac after more than her fair share of injuries. The four-year starter was now having to adjust her approach to become more crafty than just flat-out dominating. Along the way, Brignac experienced some ups and downs, not always feeling as in control in the circle as she’s always enjoyed. Of course, don’t tell that to any of the opposing batters at this weekend’s NCAA Regional. No, she may not be throwing quite as hard anymore, but the veteran hurler was certainly in control. On Friday, Brignac threw a one-hitter with one walk and nine strikeouts. Then in Sunday’s Regional-clinching win, she only allowed two runs on seven hits with two walks and seven more strikeouts in 5.2 innings to improve to 23-3 on the season. "My confidence never wavered throughout the process," Brignac said. "My execution wavered a little bit at times, but you just try to learn from that." Throughout it all, though, Brignac was focused on doing what it took to be prepared for this time of the season. "It’s not so much pacing herself, but the whole season was to get ready for the postseason, to prepare herself for the postseason," catcher Sarah Draheim said. "She took the offseason off, so it was going to take some time." Now with the Cajuns headed west to meet defending national champion Arizona State in the Super Regionals this weekend, Brignac is hardly in the experimental stage any longer. She’s 23-3 with a 2.04 ERA and ready to fill any kind of role the coaches need to get UL back to Oklahoma City. In Sunday’s win, Brignac was very close to throwing another gem. Through five innings, Stanford had no runners reach third base, only two got to second and one of those came on a two-out double. Still as the sixth inning started, Brignac’s pitch count was beginning to climb and the thought of replacing her to keep the Cardinal guessing had begun. Unfortunately for Brignac, the inning was complicated by a few frustrating infield singles. "That’s going to happen," she said. "The game isn’t going to go flawlessly for you." So even though it wasn’t a matter of Brignac tiring or running out of gas, UL co-head coach Michael Lotief elected to pull the senior with the score 5-2, two outs, two on and an 0-2 pitch on the batter. "We still believed that she had good stuff," Lotief said. "We had just put her on a pitch count at the beginning of the game, so we were already wondering if we should let her finish the inning or what before the inning even started. Then it was bloop, bloop, bloop. It wasn’t like they were hitting her hard. We just decided to make the move anyway." In came freshman Jordan Wallace to strike out pinch-hitter Erin Ashby to end the threat in the sixth and then enjoy a 1-2-3 seventh to ice the victory. "That decision didn’t bother me at all," Brignac said. "I trust the coaches. If they thought it was the best move at the time, then it was the best move at the time. I was proud that Jordan came in and got the job done." Still confident and still capable of stringing a lot of zeroes together, now Brignac going to Arizona State with her goals as big as ever. "We know we’re capable of going over there and winning," she said.
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