Softball Preview: at Sun Belt Tournament

No. 9 Louisiana (40-7, 21-2 Sun Belt) at Sun Belt Tournament
Thursday, May 12 • 10 a.m. (CDT) • vs. Georgia State/ULM winner • Jaguar Field (1,050) • Mobile, Ala.
Next game with win: Friday, May 13 • 11 a.m. (CDT)
Next game with loss: Thursday, May 12 • 3 p.m. (CDT)

Game Notes (PDF): Louisiana
Sun Belt Tournament Central
Radio: ESPN 1420-AM • Talent: Steve Peloquin, PxP
TV: ESPN3 (Friday and Saturday)
Live Stats
Live Webstream (Thursday)
Rosters: Louisiana | Georgia State | ULM
Schedules: Louisiana | Georgia State | ULM
2016 Stats: Louisiana | Georgia State | ULM
Ragin' Cajuns Twitter: @ULRaginCajuns | @RaginCajunSB
Opponents' Twitter: @GSU_Softball | @ULM_Softball
Sun Belt Twitter: @SunBelt

THE COACHES
Louisiana: Michael Lotief (Louisiana, 1985)
Record at Louisiana: 678-166-1 (14th season)           Career Record: Same

Georgia State: Roger Kincaid (Georgia, 1987)
Record at GSU: 208-136 (6th season)                           Career Record: Same

ULM: Corey Lyon (Newman, 1995)
Record at ULM: 54-54 (2nd season)                              Career Record: 144-143 (5th season)

5 THINGS TO KNOW
1 - The Ragin' Cajuns seek their 13th Sun Belt Tournament championship. Louisiana's last title came in 2014 when the event was held at Lamson Park.

2 - The Sun Belt Tournament returns to Mobile, Ala., for the second time. Jaguar Field first hosted the event back in 2010 with Louisiana claiming the championship.

3 - The Cajuns pitching staff has limited foes to two runs or fewer in 34 of 47 games, overall. In Sun Belt play, opponents scored two runs or less in 19 of 23 games.

4 - The Ragin' Cajuns hold at No. 12 in the latest NCAA RPI rankings (Top 8 host through WCWS, Top 16 host regional).

5 - The Cajuns lead all levels of NCAA softball in home runs (93) and home runs per game (1.98). Louisiana has hit multiple home runs 26 times (out of 47 games).

CAJUNS START POSTSEASON PLAY IN MOBILE
No. 9-ranked and Sun Belt Conference champion Ragin' Cajuns Softball (40-7, 21-2 Sun Belt) begins postseason play in Mobile, Ala., at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament being held Wednesday-Saturday, May 11-14. Louisiana received a bye in the quarterfinal round and opens tournament play on Thursday, May 12 at 10 a.m. The Ragin' Cajuns opponent for Thursday's contest will be determined by results on Wednesday. Possible opponents include Georgia State, Georgia Southern and ULM.

THE PATH TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP
The Ragin' Cajuns won each series with Sun Belt opponents this season, extending their school-and Sun Belt-record streak of consecutive conference series victories to 29 and claiming their 14th championship in 16 years since the league began competition in 2001.

MAY MADENESS
The month of May has arrived, meaning softball's version of the NCAA Tournament is not far off. Louisiana seeks its 18th straight appearance and 26th in the past 27 seasons. Selection Sunday is May 15 with the regional round beginning on May 20.

ELKINS, STEWART HEADLINE ALL-SUN BELT SELECTIONS
No. 9 Louisiana placed a league-high seven players on the 2016 All-Sun Belt Team, headlined by Student-Athlete of the Year Lexie Elkins and Pitcher of the Year Alex Stewart. Elkins became the first individual in Sun Belt history to win the top honor in three straight seasons (2014-16). Stewart became the seventh different Ragin' Cajun to be recognized as Pitcher of the Year. Elkins and Stewart were joined on the first team by DJ Sanders (SS), Shellie Landry (OF), Aleah Craighton (OF) and Sara Corbello (DP). Haley Hayden (2B) was the Cajuns representative on the second team.

BALANCED EFFORT
Louisiana's lineup features six players with 40-plus RBI (Craighton, Elkins, Hayden, Landry, Sanders, Vincent). There are six players with double digits in home runs (Corbello, Craighton, Elkins, Landry, Sanders, Vincent). And, nine players have reached 30 base hits.

STEWART'S STEADY HAND
Alex Stewart held Sun Belt foes to 11 runs and 58 hits covering 20 appearances and 95 innings pitched in league play. She spearheaded a pitching staff that limited foes to two runs or fewer in 19 of 23 games in Sun Belt play and in 34 of 47 overall.

TEAMWORK TELLS THE TALE
The Ragin' Cajuns success can be attributed to all phases of the team. The squad led the Sun Belt Conference in hitting (.335 avg.), pitching (1.76 ERA) and fielding (.973 FLD%).

DRIVING FORCE
In Sun Belt play, Shellie Landry led the Ragin' Cajuns and entire conference in RBI with 35. She averaged 1.52 RBI per game in conference paly.

SPARKPLUG
Leadoff hitter Haley Hayden has posted a hit in 37 of 47 games and has gone the entire season without consecutive hitless games. She led the Ragin' Cajuns with 17 multiple-hit games, 11 coming in Sun Belt play. She pieced together 10 different hit streaks during the season and enters the Sun Belt Tournament on a three-game hit streak.

STAY TUNED
Lexie Elkins, who's been out with a thumb injury since April 2, has been cleared to play once again. It remains to be seen, however, if she will see any action during the Sun Belt Conference Tournament this week. Head coach Michael Lotief stated at this press conference earlier this week: "I'm worried about the thumb and about her receiving. We are just going to ease her back into things. The other kids on the team understand that it is business as usual."

COACH LOTIEF REFLECTING ON ELKINS' ABSENCE
"This team has been solid without its best player – that gets lost on a lot of people's mind. This team has marched on. We've had some hiccups, but we've marched on quite admirably."

STEWART SHUTS 'EM DOWN
Alex Stewart (25-4, 1.42 ERA), who pitched 36 consecutive scoreless innings in Sun Belt play earlier this season (March 19-April 9), had a stretch of 21 straight scoreless innings prior to a home run by Georgia Southern's AJ Hamilton on Sunday, May 1. Last weekend vs. ULM she resumed the scoreless streak as she finished with 17 scoreless innings pitched in which she struck out 18 and limited the Warhawks to four hits.

STEWART SHUTS 'EM DOWN (Part 2)
Alex Stewart pitched scoreless softball in four Sun Belt Conference series this season: UT Arlington (7.0 innings), Troy (12.0 innings), Texas State (14.0 innings) and ULM (17.0 innings)

AMAZING ALEAH
Aleah Craighton has stepped to the forefront in Lexie Elkins' absence to provide power, slugging percentage, on base percentage and RBI. During the timeframe, Craighton hit .395, slugged a team-best seven home runs, posted a .974 slugging percentage and .623 on base percentage. She's recently become the hitter in the Cajuns lineup pitchers work around as evidenced by 15 walks and eight hit by pitch during Elkins' absence.

SEND 'EM IN SANDERS
DJ Sanders was the first Cajun to reach 50 RBI this season (currently has 51). She ranks second on the team in multiple-RBI games with 16, having reached at least three RBI in a game eight times. The Columbus, Miss., native posted at least five RBI in a weekend six times.

GREMILLION'S GOT THE GRIP
Freshman Kara Gremillion brings a string of 14 consecutive error-free games into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, last committing an error on April 9 at Georgia State. It's her second double-digit streak of the season, adding to a string of 21 straight error-free games earlier in the season from Feb. 26-Apr. 3. For the season, Gremillion has committed only three errors over 128 chances (53 PO, 72 A, 3 E, .977 FLD%).

NOTHING IS FREE
Alex Stewart worked 8-1/3 innings before yielding a walk to ULM last weekend, extending her most recent string of walk-free innings to 33-2/3 innings. She reached her second streak of 30-plus walk-free innings, adding to the 35-2/3 consecutive she pitched to start the season. Stewart has issued just 23 walks over 173 innings pitched

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
No. 9 Louisiana awaits its assignment for the regional round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The tournament field and regional sites are being announced on Sunday, May 15 at 9 p.m. (CDT) on ESPNU.

DIAMOND NOTES
#CatchMeIfYouCan: Louisiana is 34-0 when scoring first. In those 34 wins, the Ragin' Cajuns have relinquished the lead only twice (4th inn. of Game 1 vs. TTU; 5th inn of Game 2 at GSU).

#ExtraExtra: Aleah Craighton has produced 27 extra base hits, a new career-best total which tops the 26 she had as a redshirt freshman in 2015.

#ToughOut: In the month of April, Aleah Craighton was aboard the base path 30 times in 47 plate appearances (.638 OB%). She hit .414, with 12 hits (6 HR) plus 13 walks and five hit by pitch.

#GeauxGremillion: Kara Gremillion posted the first back-to-back multiple-hit games of her collegiate career, collecting two each game and finishing last Saturday's twinbill vs. ULM 4-for-5 at the plate. That helped land her Sun Belt Student-Athlete of the Week honors on Monday – the the only freshman and only third baseman to earn the award in 2016.

#ChargingOn: Shellie Landry posted at least one base hit in 20 of the team's 24 Sun Belt contests which included a 10-game hit streak in league play from April 9-May 7.

#HeyItsHaley: Haley Hayden is one base hit shy of reaching 60 base hits for the third straight season. The junior second baseman is just two hits shy of her 200th career base hit.

#ConsistencyIsKey: Haley Hayden needs one hit, 10 more runs and eight more RBI to log her third straight season of 60 hits, 60 runs and 50 RBI.

#ScoringInBunches: The Ragin' Cajuns have scored multiple runs in 84 out of 275 innings at the plate. The bulk of the team's production has been in the middle innings (third through fifth) where 184 out of 365 totals runs (50.4 percent) have crossed the plate.

#NationalPower: Dating back to the start of the 2015 season, Louisiana has been in the Top 10 of the NFCA rankings in 25 of the past 28 polls and Top 10 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll in 24 of the past 28 polls.

#FamilyTies: Being members of the Ragin' Cajuns softball team has added meaning for three families. Sisters Shellie Landry and Jaime Landry are competing together collegiately for the first time (Jaime redshirted in 2015). Kara Gremillion is following in the footsteps of her aunts, Stacie Gremillion and Sandy Percle, who donned the Cajuns uniform in the mid-1980s. And, Chelsea Lotief joins her father, head coach Michael Lotief, in the dugout while suiting up for the Ragin' Cajuns like her mother, Stefni (Whitton) Lotief, did from 1987-90.

#GeauxCajuns

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Players Mentioned

Sara Corbello

Aleah Craighton

Lexie Elkins

Kara Gremillion

Haley Hayden

Jaime Landry

Shellie Landry

Chelsea Lotief

DJ Sanders

Alex Stewart