Softball: Players relish finishing 16th

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • June 17, 2010

UL softball co-coach Michael Lotief admits that he and his players never get caught up in numbers or rankings.

But he hardly discounted where the Ragin’ Cajuns (45-18) finished in the final national rankings released this week.

UL was 16th in the USA Today/NFCA top 25 poll and 17th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate top 25. That tied the highest ranking all season for the Cajuns, who won the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

"What that shows me is that we got some respect for what we did this season," Lotief said. "It’s an honor to be recognized by your peers. What I love about our sport is that our national championship is decided on the field.

"In football the rankings help determine the champion. In softball, the rankings reflect what happened in regionals, super regionals and the College World Series. We had success down the stretch and played well in regionals, and our ranking was reflective of what these kids did."

Eventual national champion UCLA eliminated the Cajuns in the NCAA Los Angeles Super Regional after a pair of run-rule losses. But UL senior center fielder Vallie Gaspard was proud her team overcame a flurry of injuries to win the Sun Belt Conference and beat No. 12 national seed LSU and nationally ranked Texas A&M twice to clinch the regional championship.

"It was a special season," Gaspard said. "We had a lot of adversity and a few problems we had to face, but we stuck together and kept fighting."

Senior third baseman Melissa Verde shared a similar opinion.

"We came out every single day and worked hard," Verde said. "When we were faced with adversity, we pushed through it. I’m proud of what the team did and all that we overcame."

The Cajuns have holes to fill in 2011 with the loss of Gaspard and Verde as well as fellow senior starters in catcher Lana Bowers, second baseman Kelly Cormier and pitcher Brittany Cuevas.

Cormier, though, believes that a young nucleus will use the losses to UCLA as motivation next year. It also helps that pitcher Ashley Brignac, outfielder Katie Smith and first baseman Taryn Broussard are expected to return from injuries that limited them in 2010.

"I think the season was special because of everything that we went through," Cormier said. "All I know is that I’m so proud to have been a part of this team. I think they’re capable of doing a lot of great things next year with the young kids coming back that got some experience."

"They’ll put what they learned this year to good use."