University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Michigan
Cajuns Ready to Face Ranked Opponents at Leadoff Classic
2/21/2013 9:58:00 PM | Softball
Contact: Nick Ross
Date: February 22-14th
Location: Clearwater, Fla.
Site: Eddie C. Moore Complex
Radio: ESPN 1420-AM
Live Stats: www.ragincajuns.com
Opponents: #15 Michigan, #14/17 South Florida, Illinois State, Hofstra, James Madison
Game Notes
WHAT'S ON TAP? The 8-1 Cajuns are on a long road trip to Clearwater, Florida for the NFCA Leadoff Classic, where they will face their best competition yet. The Cajuns kick off the Classic with a noon bout with 15th ranked Michigan on Friday, followed up by a 4:00 P.M. game against 14/17th ranked South Florida. On Saturday the Cajuns will see Illinois State and Hofstra at noon and 2:30 P.M. respectively, before seeing James Madison on Sunday at 11:30 A.M. to cap off the tournament.
CAJUN UPDATE: The Cajuns topped in-state opponent McNeese State on Wednesday, Feb. 20th, by a score of 5-1. After jumping on the board with a four-run first inning, the Cajuns relied on a strong pitching performance from sophomore standout Jordan Wallace. Wallace allowed just one run, also in the first inning, before cruising to the complete game victory.
WALLACE NAMED PITCHER OF THE WEEK: For the fifth time in her career, and first time this season, sophomore pitcher Jordan Wallace was named the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week. In three starts last week, Wallace went 3-0 with a 0.37 ERA, allowing four runs (one earned) in 19.0 innings of work. She struck out 28 and walked just five batters.
DOMINATING THE DISH: Senior catcher Sarah Draheim has been a huge presence both behind and at the plate for the Cajuns this season. She leads the team with 62 putouts and has started every game at catcher. She is batting .500 on the season with three home runs and 12 RBI. Her home runs came against Iowa and a two-home run game against Mississippi State. Draheim batted .250 in her first three seasons.
NO WAITING FOR WALLACE: Sophomore pitcher Jordan Wallace is quickly building on what was a record breaking freshman season, racking up six wins in as many starts. She holds a 6-0 record with a 0.60 ERA (3 er, 35.0 ip). Wallace has 55 strikeouts and just six walks while allowing 22 hits.
SINGLING OUT FERNANDEZ: Third baseman Natalie Fernandez led the Ragin' Cajun squad with 75 hits and a .436 average last season. All of the 75 hits were singles. Thus far in 2013 she has gone 10-for-28 with ten singles. In her career, Fernandez has 120 hits, including 119 singles and one double. Her only extra base hit came on February 12, 2011 as her last 118 hits have been singles.
NO SENIOR SLIDE: The five seniors, Brianna Cherry, Sarah Draheim, Matte Haack, Nerissa Myers and Megan Waterman combine for a .416 batting average (45-for-108), with 48 runs scored, 42 RBI and nine home runs. In the first seven games, all five of the seniors had at least one home run, and combined for a slugging percentage of .768.
FRESHMAN FIREPOWER: Freshman outfielder Shellie Landry has quickly found her stride at the plate in college. Landry has belted a team-high three home runs and 16 RBI while batting .400 (12-for-30) in the first nine games of her career.
WATERMAN OFF THE WALL: In just her fourth career at-bat, senior Megan Waterman doubled off the left field wall, missing a home run by mere feet on Friday, February 15. On Saturday, February 16th she would get another pinch hitting opportunity, this time clearing the wall for her first career home run. She is 2-for-2 with a slugging percentage of 3.000 in 2013.
TAKING SOME HAACKS: Senior Matte Haack went 2-for-4 with a home run and a double on Feb. 13, against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. She also drove in a career-high five runs and now has nine RBI on the season. Haack drove in 56 runs with nine home runs as a junior.
HOW DO THEY RANK? Louisiana is ranked 12th in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches and the ESPN.com/USA Softball polls released on February 19th, up three spots from last weekend. The Cajuns started the season ranked 11th, before falling to 15th last week.
DEFENDING CHAMPS: Louisiana will attempt to defend their throne at the top of the Sun Belt Conference, a spot they have held in 11 of the past 12 seasons, including five straight. They will also attempt to extend a streak of 14 straight NCAA Regional tournament berths.
ALL SUN BELT: Six Cajun's were named to the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team, the most of any team in the conference. Nerissa Myers, Brianna Cherry, Matte Haack and Sarah Draheim were among the seniors on the team, along with junior Natalie Fernandez and sophomore pitcher Jordan Wallace. Myers and Wallace were both named preseason Player and Pitcher of the year, respectively.
ATTENDANCE AUTHORITIES: Lamson Park has held the highest attendance in the Sun Belt conference for the past 13 seasons, and set school records last season with an average attendance of 1,287, for 29,171 all season. Lamson Park has held 4066 fans this season after five games, averaging 813 a game.
FAMILY AFFAIR: The Cajuns have two family links on the team, seniors Nerissa Myers and Brianna Cherry are cousins, and senior Matte Haack has a younger brother, Brooks, who is a freshman on the Ragin' Cajun football team.
SOLID COMPETITION: The Cajuns will face nine teams that were either ranked in the top 25 or received votes in NCAA polls, including ESPN.com number one, Oklahoma (April 3rd). Of the 14 teams ranked above the Cajuns, three are still on the Cajuns' schedule, #1/2 Oklahoma, #6 Texas, #9/10 Texas A&M.
WHO'S AT SHORTSTOP? Senior Nerissa Myers has started 179 games straight and 185 of the last 188 games at shortstop. The only player to start a game at shortstop for the Cajuns since 2009 was current head coach, Megan Granger. Myers has a career .943 fielding percentage, making 246 putouts with 335 assists and just 35 errors.
LEADING OFF: Nerissa Myers sent the fifth pitch of the Cajuns' first at-bat over the left field wall on Saturday, Feb. 9 for an opposite field, lead-off home run to put the Cajuns on the board early. It was the first time this millennium that the Cajuns led the season off with a home run.
HAVE MERCY: The Cajuns have won all but four games this season by way of the NCAA 8-run mercy rule, out scoring opponents 81-26. They have seen the seventh inning just four times, and won three games in the fifth inning.
CLEARING THE BENCH: 28 different players have seen time at the plate or on the base paths this season for the Cajuns. In all of 2012, just 12 players saw action in the field, not including pitchers.
