University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Daily Blog: Cajuns At The NCAA Super-Regional
5/23/2012 1:00:00 PM | Softball
TEMPE, Arizona -- Tuesday was a travel day for the Ragin' Cajun softball team as the UL players, coaches and staff left Lafayette and traveled to Tempe, Ariz. to take part in the NCAA Super-Regional at Arizona State on Thursday.
For the Cajun players and coaches, it was business as usual. For some of the staff, it has been a hectic couple of days since UL toppled Stanford on Saturday to advance to the Super Regional.
Already a little tired after hosting the NCAA Regional last week, the staff had to be ready for anything. After all, at one point on Sunday evening after Syracuse had toppled Arizona State in the first of two regional championship games, the Cajuns were just one more Orange win away from hosting Syracuse at Lamson Park this weekend.
And, when ASU pulled away for a 4-0 win late on Sunday night, the Cajuns finally knew that they would be headed to Tempe for a rematch with the Sun Devils. Twelve hours later, the NCAA threw a curve ball at UL and made the Cajuns one of two teams to be traveling for a Super Regional that would be played Thursday and Friday (three more are being played Friday & Saturday and the final three series are being held on Saturday & Sunday).
The Cajuns spent Monday going through multiple practices at Lamson Park while co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief met with the media and held their weekly radio show. While all that was going on, the athletic administration was working diligently to make travel plans so that the 35-member travel party could fluidly make the trip to Tempe.
Although the path to Tempe was forged on a total team effort that resulted in a 52-4 record and the regional crown, the Cajuns took different paths to get to ASU on Tuesday. Split up on four different flights on three different airlines and using two different hubs to connect through, the staff, coaches and players all finally arrived around 7:00 p.m. local time (or 9:00 p.m. in Lafayette).
The day was a long one for everyone, but Assistant Athletic Director David Faber breathed a sigh of relief when the final plane landed and all 35 Cajuns were in town. Faber's Monday ended with him reading through the NCAA Participant Manual at 2:00 a.m. as he packed his bags for the week. Tuesday included a lengthy series of phone calls, text messages and emails to make sure that everybody was on the right flight, that transportation was in place and the hotel was ready for the team's arrival.
The day was also a busy one for the Lotief's, who put the UL starters through a workout at Lamson Park before heading to the airport to catch flights at 2:18 and 2:20 p.m. Upon their arrival in Tempe, the coaches continued the process of getting the squad ready for Thursday night.
The squad met as a group and headed to a spot near the ASU campus where they picked up dinner. Eager to get the players adjusted to the local weather, the Lotiefs had the players eat their dinner out by the pool at approximately the same time that they would be on the field on Thursday night.
It was 108 degrees with a relative humidity of eight percent in Tempe when the first group arrived on Tuesday. To put that into perspective (and of course rebutting the whole “but it is a dry heat” theory), the 10-15 MPH breeze felt like the initial blast you would get when opening an oven door. Fortunately, it had chilled down to just 94 degrees at 8:00 p.m. when the Cajuns dined by the pool, and with a forecasted high of 100 degrees for Thursday, it will be plenty warm for when UL begins its quest for a Women's College World Series berth.
LAGNIAPE: Lost in the Sunday's celebration was the milestone win by Stefni Lotief, who claimed her 600th win as a Cajun. She is now 600-143 (.808) in 12 seasons at UL. Michael Lotief is also on the verge of a milestone, entering the week with a 499-120 (.806) in 10 seasons. . . honors continue to pour in for the UL players. On Tuesday, Ashley Brignac was named the recipient of the Sun Belt Conference Female Post-Graduate Scholarship while Christi Orgeron was tabbed the Sun Belt Conference Female Athlete of the Year. Stay tuned because another nice honor will come Brignac's way on Thursday.
For the Cajun players and coaches, it was business as usual. For some of the staff, it has been a hectic couple of days since UL toppled Stanford on Saturday to advance to the Super Regional.
Already a little tired after hosting the NCAA Regional last week, the staff had to be ready for anything. After all, at one point on Sunday evening after Syracuse had toppled Arizona State in the first of two regional championship games, the Cajuns were just one more Orange win away from hosting Syracuse at Lamson Park this weekend.
And, when ASU pulled away for a 4-0 win late on Sunday night, the Cajuns finally knew that they would be headed to Tempe for a rematch with the Sun Devils. Twelve hours later, the NCAA threw a curve ball at UL and made the Cajuns one of two teams to be traveling for a Super Regional that would be played Thursday and Friday (three more are being played Friday & Saturday and the final three series are being held on Saturday & Sunday).
The Cajuns spent Monday going through multiple practices at Lamson Park while co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief met with the media and held their weekly radio show. While all that was going on, the athletic administration was working diligently to make travel plans so that the 35-member travel party could fluidly make the trip to Tempe.
Although the path to Tempe was forged on a total team effort that resulted in a 52-4 record and the regional crown, the Cajuns took different paths to get to ASU on Tuesday. Split up on four different flights on three different airlines and using two different hubs to connect through, the staff, coaches and players all finally arrived around 7:00 p.m. local time (or 9:00 p.m. in Lafayette).
The day was a long one for everyone, but Assistant Athletic Director David Faber breathed a sigh of relief when the final plane landed and all 35 Cajuns were in town. Faber's Monday ended with him reading through the NCAA Participant Manual at 2:00 a.m. as he packed his bags for the week. Tuesday included a lengthy series of phone calls, text messages and emails to make sure that everybody was on the right flight, that transportation was in place and the hotel was ready for the team's arrival.
The day was also a busy one for the Lotief's, who put the UL starters through a workout at Lamson Park before heading to the airport to catch flights at 2:18 and 2:20 p.m. Upon their arrival in Tempe, the coaches continued the process of getting the squad ready for Thursday night.
The squad met as a group and headed to a spot near the ASU campus where they picked up dinner. Eager to get the players adjusted to the local weather, the Lotiefs had the players eat their dinner out by the pool at approximately the same time that they would be on the field on Thursday night.
It was 108 degrees with a relative humidity of eight percent in Tempe when the first group arrived on Tuesday. To put that into perspective (and of course rebutting the whole “but it is a dry heat” theory), the 10-15 MPH breeze felt like the initial blast you would get when opening an oven door. Fortunately, it had chilled down to just 94 degrees at 8:00 p.m. when the Cajuns dined by the pool, and with a forecasted high of 100 degrees for Thursday, it will be plenty warm for when UL begins its quest for a Women's College World Series berth.
LAGNIAPE: Lost in the Sunday's celebration was the milestone win by Stefni Lotief, who claimed her 600th win as a Cajun. She is now 600-143 (.808) in 12 seasons at UL. Michael Lotief is also on the verge of a milestone, entering the week with a 499-120 (.806) in 10 seasons. . . honors continue to pour in for the UL players. On Tuesday, Ashley Brignac was named the recipient of the Sun Belt Conference Female Post-Graduate Scholarship while Christi Orgeron was tabbed the Sun Belt Conference Female Athlete of the Year. Stay tuned because another nice honor will come Brignac's way on Thursday.
Alyson Habetz Media Availability (Nov 24, 2025)
Monday, November 24
Alyson Habetz Media Availability (May 4, 2025)
Monday, May 05
Alyson Habetz, Mia Norwood, and Dayzja Williams Media Availability (April 28, 2025)
Monday, April 28
Alyson Habetz Media Availability (April 21, 2025)
Monday, April 21
