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Softball: Good Enough – video highlights includedUL ace Jordan Wallace tosses a one-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts to lead the Cajuns to a 3-0 NCAA Regional win over Northwestern State on Friday at LSU’s Tiger Park. / Paul Kieu/pkieu@theadvertiser.comKevin Foote, May 18, 2013 BATON ROUGE — In Michael Lotief’s mind, softball games are supposed to be 1-0. And in the postseason, they’re really supposed to be 1-0. So with that firmly implanted in their minds, the UL Ragin’ Cajuns softball team wasn’t alarmed at all with a slim 1-0 lead into the fourth and just a 2-0 lead into the sixth inning of Friday’s NCAA Baton Rouge opener at LSU’s Tiger Park. Consequently, a calm and cool Cajuns club rode sophomore ace hurler Jordan Wallace to a 3-0 victory over the Northwestern State. The Cajuns (44-13) will now meet LSU at noon today, while the Lady Demons (40-14) will play Central Connecticut State at 3 p.m. today. “We knew it was going to be a hard fight,” Lotief said. “They were prepared and our kids were prepared. It was a good college softball game. “This is the postseason. It’s about advancing. We’re going to enjoy this one. We’re not going to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what happened today, or spend a lot of time looking too far ahead.” It took 144 pitches, but Wallace made it work in a one-hit shutout with six walks and 11 strikeouts. Both pitchers walked six. Wallace’s second strikeout gave her 500 in her college career. Wallace, who improved to 29-7, said it took three innings or so to figure out the umpire’s strike zone. “We’re going to take it step by step,” Wallace said. “Whatever we’ve got to do to win it, that’s what we’re going to do.” Lotief said he’s not concerned about Wallace’s ability to return for today’s noon game, pointing out that Wallace pitched game one against FIU in the Sun Belt Tournament last Wednesday and then followed that up with a no-hitter for seven innings against South Alabama in the second game last Thursday. “I know this, that kid (Wallace) has tremendous heart and she’s a tremendous competitor,” Lotief said. The big difference between Wallace and NSU starter Kylie Roos was that UL’s ace struck out 11 and Roos only had two strikeouts. And despite the fact that the Lady Demons weren’t credit with an error, less-than-average defensive plays behind Roos contributed to UL’s three runs.
In the first, Nerissa Myers single to right, before Brianna Cherry’s fly ball to right was misplayed into a base hit. Eventually, Sara Corbello walked with the bases loaded for a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, Myers reached on a fielder’s choice that resulted in a questionable force out at third base. One out later, Sarah Draheim looped a single into right for a 2-0 lead. The two runs by Myers gave her 240 career runs scored, which put the Petal, Miss., native at 21st on the all-time NCAA list. “We played the game relaxed today and we went in attacking,” Myers said. “We went in just trusting the process. I trust my teammates and the people behind me. “We expect every game to be tight. We want to score runs and let our pitcher know that we have her back. We play offense pitch-by-pitch just like we do on defense.” UL got that lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Myers got a clean single to lead off the frame. Two outs and a walk later, pinch-runner Meagan Thomas scored when Shellie Landry’s hot shot to third was deflected into foul territory for a 3-0 lead. “You would think that a tight strike zone would work to the hitters’ advantage, but I think it just made the hitters on both teams more patient than they should have been,” Lotief said. “You know me, I like to take some rips. “You also have to give their kid (Roos) some credit. Once she settled in, she did a good job.” Northwestern State’s best chances to score came in the second and fifth innings. Jordan Palmer lined a single to left two outs and one on in the second, but Wallace struck out the next batter. The only other inning the Lady Demons reached second base was in the fifth when Wallace walked the first two, but then threw out NSU’s Palmer at the plate on a bunt to keep it a shutout. “She (Wallace) did a good job,” Palmer said. “She threw it low, threw it high and hit her spots well.” On the flip side, the Lady Demons’ plan of keeping UL’s hitters in the park and prevented extra-base hits worked to perfection. All seven of UL’s hits were singles. “We kept them from getting any extra base hits, but we didn’t make a couple of plays (defensively) that we normally should make,” NSU coach Donald Pickett said.
Athletic Network Footnote: Please click below for video of the highlights of UL Softball win over Northwestern State in Baton Rouge on May 17. Peace, Ed Dugas
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