Softball: Deja vu moments prove fatal for Cajuns in opener

Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, May 18, 2018

BATON ROUGE — It was just too much deja vu for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns in game one of the 2018 Baton Rouge Regional at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge.

For starters, there was a sickening reminder of last year’s weekend of waiting on the weather in the 2017 Baton Rouge Regional when Friday’s game was halted for four hours and 19 minutes with one out in the top of the seventh.

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Add that familiar Achilles heel of struggling to score runs at times to the situation and the result was a frustrating 1-0 loss to Houston in the NCAA Regional opener.

"We knew it was going to be a low-scoring game," UL coach Gerry Glasco said. "The game played out exactly like we thought it would. We just didn’t get a hit when we had a runner at third with no outs. You’ve got to put the ball in play and we didn’t get the job done."

With the loss, UL (38-15) will now meet the LSU-Fordham loser at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

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The long weather delay certainly didn’t appear to affect the Cajuns negatively initially. First, UL pitcher Summer Ellyson struck out the first two batters she faced, and the first nine overall in the game.

Then Lexie Comeaux led off the second with a lead-off double and reached third with one out after a Cougars’ throwing error. But a strikeout followed, and then Comeaux was thrown out at the plate to help Houston escape the threat without a run.

"We had a set gameplan and in a critical moment, we went away from it," Glasco said. "They can’t do that. We’ve got to learn to have discipline. One critical moment or two critical moments and you have a mental lapse in a game like this and it makes a difference. And tonight, we did that."

The Cajuns only struck out twice in the game off Houston ace right-hander Savannah Heebner, but both strikeouts came with runners at third base.

"We’ve got a bunch of young players who haven’t played a lot, and the pressure," Glasco said. "You’ve got Mr. Octobers and Mr. Mays. They’ve got to learn to adjust and get us done under pressure."

As usual, Ellyson did her part, allowing just one run on five hits with two walks and nine strikeouts.

"I don’t believe it did mess with me at all," Ellyson said. "I really came out strong at the beginning. I came back with a 1-1 count with one out and it was just like the game had just started. I felt fresh and ready to go."

And certainly the frustrating loss didn’t affect Ellyson’s loose-yet-confident approach to pitching. For one, she was line dancing in the dugout during the game. Secondly, when asked what happened when Houston lead-off hitter Arielle James, she just smiled and said, "She just got lucky."

The Cajuns are now one loss away from ending their first season under Glasco.

In his mind, it’s a matter of mental toughness Saturday if UL’s season will continue.

"We’ve got to take a deep breath and really re-evaluate what we are and what we’re about," Glasco said. "Do we want to play disciplined and win or do we want to free-lance and take losses like this that are heartbreaking?"