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Softball: UL’s first home softball weekend special for manyKevin Foote, The Advertiser, February 23, 2016
There were lots of reasons for a lot of people to thoroughly enjoy the performance of the No. 6-ranked UL Ragin’ Cajuns softball team this past weekend at Lamson Park. The Cajuns defeated Oregon two out of three in running their record to 8-1 on the young season. Topping that list, though, may have been associate head coach Chris Malveaux. The former McNeese State head coach later coached three years at UL, before leaving to coach at Bradley University. Although he witnessed some of it from afar as much as he could, Malveaux missed so many of the magical moments the program has produced since departing Cajun Country after the 2011 season. So he certainly relished every scene of the Cajuns’ memorable weekend that saw multiple crowds of over 2,200 fans, not to mention a showdown with one of the nation’s top programs. The Cajuns will return home for a 4 p.m. doubleheader against Texas Tech on Thursday at Lamson Park. “Being back has been a blast,” Malveaux said at UL softball’s weekly press luncheon Tuesday. “If that atmosphere this weekend didn’t give you chills, you probably don’t have a pulse. It was an amazing feeling being back out there. “The fans have the kids’ backs. Even in the second game against Oregon (down 6-0 until late three-run rally), in that last inning, you would have thought we were up by 10 runs.” Obviously, Malveaux has been around long enough to know that one exciting weekend doesn’t a season make. It did, however, remind him of what is possible with this program. “It’s good to know that there’s going to be more weekends like that at home (the rest of the season),” he said. In terms of maintaining this level in the future, Malveaux and the rest of the coaching staff unveiled some encouraging young prospects to the Lamson Park faithful for the first time this past weekend. Few have coach Michael Lotief more excited when detailing her early progress than true freshman Kara Gremillion, who is off to a .333 start at the plate with five doubles and three RBIs. “She’s so solid on defense and knows what to do at the plate as well,” Lotief said. “That’s very impressive to me.” The weekend also allowed 10 UL reserves to get at least one at-bat. “We need to continue to try to develop depth,” Lotief said. “You know that you’re going to lose (Lexie) Elkins, (Kelsey) Vincent, (Shellie) Landry and (Sara) Corbello, so you have to start getting those other kids ready.” With that said, Lotief has started the same lineup in each game this season and he said Tuesday that he doesn’t foresee a change in that routine any time soon. The variable beginning with Thursday’s doubleheader and extending into this weekend’s Ragin’ Cajun Invitational against Rutgers and Alcorn State is the pitching staff. While junior Alex Stewart appears to be on her way to being the game one starter when Sun Belt play opens against South Alabama on March 12 at Lamson Park, Lotief teased Cajun fans by throwing red-shirt freshman Alison Deville of Port Barre against a batter to finish off Central Arkansas on Sunday. “That kid has worked hard and she’s gotten better,” Lotief said. “I think people could see that she’s not the same pitcher that she was in high school.”
Cajuns climb to No. 6 Thanks to winning two of three games against No. 5 Oregon this past weekend, the UL Ragin’ Cajuns softball program improved a bit in both major national softball polls. The big weekend also created a consensus with the Cajuns now being ranked No. 6 in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and in the Espn.com/USA Softball poll. The week before, the Cajuns were No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, in those two polls. Oregon, meanwhile, slipped just a bit to No. 7 in both polls.
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