Cajuns Advance to Championship

WACO, Texas-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team posted a 5-0 victory over Texas State on Sunday afternoon at Getterman Stadium in the 2009 NCAA Waco Regional to advance to the championship against host Baylor.

The Cajuns pitching staff combined for a one-hit shutout. Ashley Brignac picked up the win tossing 6.0 shutout innings before giving way to veteran Brittany Cuevas in the seventh. Brignac increased her streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to 72.1 innings. She fanned 10 batters in the contest and had a perfect game through the first four innings. Cuevas worked a perfect seventh inning striking out two of the three batters she faced.

Offensively, Louisiana scored five runs on six hits including a home run by Lana Bowers. The two-run home run provided the final margin of victory. Karli Hubbard finished the game with a pair of hits, while Vallie Gaspard, Melissa Verde, Katie Smith and Bowers each added base hits in the game.

The Cajuns were the first to scratch the scoreboard as they took a 1-0 advantage in the second inning. With two outs, Gabriele Bridges drew a free pass to give UL their second base runner of the game. Kelly Cormier followed with a walk of her own. Smith dropped down a bunt single back to the pitcher to load the bases. With the bases loaded and two outs, Gaspard bounced a single over the Texas State pitcher's head to plate Bridges from third and give Louisiana the early lead.

Texas State led off the top of the fifth inning with a single down the left field line. The hit ended Brignac's perfect game and no hitter. The runner would go no further than first base as a fly ball and back-to-back strikeouts by Brignac stranded the runner.

Heading into the fifth inning, Brignac had retired 12 in a row, including seven strikeouts.

The Cajuns increased their lead to 5-0 as they scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Gaspard led off the inning with a walk and moved to third as Hubbard singled and advanced because of an error. Verde followed with a two-RBI single to right center field. After a fielder's choice and a strikeout, Bowers cleared the bases with a two-run home run to left field.

The Ragin' Cajuns will now play Baylor in the Regional Championship beginning at 3:00 p.m. The Cajuns need to defeat the Lady Bears twice in order to advance to the Super Regional.

-www.RaginCajuns.com-

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