It’s a good thing for the UL Ragin’ Cajun softball program that senior second baseman Paige Cormier listens to her mother’s advice.

And even better that she isn’t one to give up easily.

When Cormier graduated from Teurlings Catholic in 2007 after helping the Lady Rebels win the state title her senior season, she had no idea what her future held.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to play college softball, but no school was recruiting her and Cormier honestly didn’t feel that she was good enough to extend her career anyway.

Her mother, Laura, suggested that her youngest daughter of six children try to walk on and that UL’s program was “really good.”

Plus, as a self-proclaimed “home body who just likes to stay home,” there really was no better program for Cormier to prod.

After all, as her mother told her, “the worst thing that could happen is they say no.”
Initially, Cormier was told that the Cajuns don’t offer tryouts, but fortunately the Lotief coaching staff was familiar with the family and its history in softball. Older sister, Shayla, had played in their summer select program and collegiately at McNeese State.

So they took a look at her.

“We evaluated her skills over about a two-week period,” UL co-head coach Mike Lotief said. “She played catch a little bit, we saw her run a little bit and we put her in the cage and watched her swing.”

The thing that actually impressed the coaches the most, though, was a conditioning drill where Cormier did 12 pull-ups.

“That was more than anyone on the team,” Lotief said.

At the end of that fall season, Cormier reveals now that she really had no idea if she had made the team or not.

“I’m not really one to ask,” she said. “He (Lotief) told something like, ‘I guess you can stay in the picture, but kind of stay on the outside.’ I guessed that meant I made it, but I didn’t really know.”

Five years later, Lotief said the fact that Cormier made it through two weeks of observation had already punched her ticket.

Talk about humble beginnings.

Fast-forward five years and Cormier is hitting a home run on March 4 in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as the No. 5 hitter for the nationally-ranked Ragin’ Cajuns.

It was her seventh of the season already and it made her the team leader.
Yes, that unrecruited little girl without any self-confidence had amazingly been transformed into a power-hitting, RBI producer for one of the top lineups in all of college softball.

“It’s an amazing story,” Lotief said.

But one that Cormier isn’t yet comfortable relishing in.

She’s simply got too much on her mind these days.

For one, she’s trying to do her part to lead the Cajuns back to the College World Series. Secondly, she’s still doesn’t consider herself a very good defensive player.
“She’s too hard on herself,” Lotief said.

Overall, there’s just too much work to be done to focus on such things now.
“I’ll think about that stuff when the season’s over,” Cormier said.

While Cormier reluctantly admitted that it’s a bit of a surprise that she hit seven homers in her first 16 games after hitting just five all of last season, she certainly didn’t glory in it.

“I definitely wouldn’t say that I expected it, but I don’t worry about stats,” she said. “It’s not like I’m swinging for the fences trying to hit a home run.”

Cormier credits her improvement at the plate to strength coach Jake Rayburn for “not letting us slack off” in their weight training and the constant instruction provided by Lotief to the technical and mental aspects of her swing.

“The mental side has definitely improved,” said Cormier, who batted .286 with five homers and 36 RBIs in her first season of extended playing time a year ago. “Your approach has to be different, things like not passing up the good pitch. We call it giving away pitches. It may be the only good pitch you get in the whole at-bat.”

While all signs point to Cormier enjoyed a career year, taking a .375 batting average with seven homers and 28 RBIs into action today against McNeese, she maintains that it wouldn’t have required success on the field for her to appreciate the fruits of her mother’s advice.

“Of course there were times when you second-guess your decision, but I’m not a quitter,” Cormier said. “I’ve never quit at anything. Plus, the way the program is run here, you never really feel like your left out. You kind of know that your presence is helping the team in some way.”