Softball: Cajuns win regional crown + Photo Gallery

Kevin Foote, Daily Advertiser, May 21, 2012

From a competitive standpoint, there’s still a long way to go after the Cajuns advanced to the Super Regionals with a 6-2 victory to wrap up the NCAA’s Lafayette Regional softball championship on Sunday.

UL will now meet defending national champion Arizona State in the best-of-three Super Regional in Tempe, Ariz., next weekend, making this past weekend’s tournament the final home games at Lamson Park for UL’s senior class.

Ranked in the top 10 for most of the season, this Cajun squad has realistic hopes for winning a national championship, so the NCAA Regional title is nice, but not close to achieving the team’s ultimate goal.

From a hosting perspective, though, this past weekend’s experience was what the Lotiefs and their loyal followers over the years had always hoped for.

Not only did the team do its part, but so did the community in the first home NCAA Regional since 2002. The fancy new version of Lamson Park was shown off in a big way, with attendance records being set in nearly every game. The total for the weekend was 14,097. Sunday’s crowd of 2,729 again set a Lamson Park record.

Lamson’s average session attendance of 2,350 was the best among the 16 regional tournaments. Louisville was next with 2,189, followed by Tuscaloosa with 2,066.

The fact that the Cajuns only played once on Saturday reduced UL to second in attendance on day two with host Louisville getting into the losers bracket and putting up a higher second-day total.

"First of all to the NCAA, (NCAA rep Sonya Varnell), it was first class all the way," co-head coach Michael Lotief said. "The tournament was done without a hitch the whole way. "» There’s a reason people have fallen in love with our sport, and it’s because we’re doing it the right way. What an awesome opportunity for us to host here.

"I can’t thank the community of Lafayette enough for how they came out and supported this event. I think when it’s all said and done we’re going to be the highest attended regional in the country."

The regional title was the third in the last five seasons for UL’s program and the seventh overall.

Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for the photo gallery of Sunday’s game.

NCAA Softball Regional Results

Written by Eugene Regional at Eugene, Oregon
Published May 21, 2012 in the Daily Advertiser