Softball Begins Final Homestand Hosting Houston in Midweek Game

Louisiana (34-11) vs. Houston (24-22-1)
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Location: Lafayette, La.
Stadium: Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park (2,790)
Game Time: 6:00 p.m. (CDT)

MEDIA INFORMATION
Season Stats (PDF): Louisiana | Houston
Rosters: Louisiana | Houston
Schedule/Results: Louisiana | Houston
Television: ESPN+ | Talent: Ian Auzenne, PxP; Yvette Girouard, analyst
Radio: ESPN Lafayette 103.3 FM // 1420 AM | Talent: Steve Peloquin, PxP; Bobby Neveaux, analyst
Live Stats: CajunStats.com
Live Coverage Links: Video | Radio | Stats
Twitter Updates: @RaginCajunsSB

TEAM INFORMATON
Louisiana RAGIN' CAJUNS
NFCA: RV | USA: RV | SBA: -- | D1S: --
RPI: 35
Head Coach: Gerry Glasco (Illinois, '80)
Record at Louisiana: 192-51 (5th season)
Career Record: Same
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP): .357 / .604 / .432
Team ERA: 2.21

Houston COUGARS
NFCA: -- | USA: -- | SBA: -- | D1S: --
RPI: 82
Head Coach: Kristin Vesely (Oklahoma, '06)
Record at Houston: 163-128-1 (6th season)
Career Record: Same
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP): .268 / .428 / .355
Team ERA: 3.96

THE BASICS
>> The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Softball (34-11) is back home this week for the final homestand of the season at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park which begins on Wednesday, April 27 with a 6:00 p.m. single game vs. Houston (24-22-1).

>> The Ragin' Cajuns are set to take the field at Lamson Park for the first time since the April 8-10 Troy series – last appearing on their home field 18 days ago.

>> The matchup with Houston marks the final midweek game of the regular season.

>> Louisiana is coming off an 8-1 performance on a nine-game road trek that started with a Sun Belt series sweep of South Alabama from April 14-15 in Mobile and was followed by last week's 5-1 showing on the annual Spring Break road trip.

>> The Ragin' Cajuns have won six straight games at Lamson Park in dominating fashion, turning in a .422 batting average and 0.58 team ERA during the streak (sweeps of UT Arlington and Troy).

>> Louisiana and Houston meet for the second straight season. The Ragin' Cajuns claimed a 12-5 win in Houston on April 7, 2021 which was the first regular season meeting of the Glasco era.

>> The last time the Ragin' Cajuns and Cougars met at Lamson Park was April 17, 2013. Louisiana swept a doubleheader by scores of 9-1 (5) and 10-5.

THE FINAL CURTAIN CALL
>> Following the UH game, the Ragin' Cajuns host Coastal Carolina (18-23, 4-14 Sun Belt) from Friday-Saturday, April 29-30 for Senior Weekend. The series is now a 6:00 p.m. single game on Friday (April 29) and 2:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday (April 30).

PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME
>> Since the second half of season began with the March 25-27 UT Arlington series, Louisiana has tuned in a 17-3 mark.

>> As a result, the Ragin' Cajuns enter Wednesday's Houston outing a season-high 23 games above the .500 mark.

>> The pitching staff's ERA in the second half, currently at 1.57, has experienced a turnaround. During the first half of the season (Feb. 11-March 20) the staff ERA was 2.77.

POSITIVE GAINS
>> The strong second half run has raised Louisiana's RPI from No. 57 back on March 21 to the current standing at No. 35.

DO THE KARLY KRUSH
>> Karly Heath launched five home runs during the team's week-long Spring Break trip, capped off by homering each day and totaling four home runs in the Sun Belt series at App State, earning her the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week award on Tuesday, April 26.

>> The home run production lifted Heath into the team lead with 11 home runs, moving her into a tie with Sarah Hudek (in 2019) for the most by an individual in the Glasco era.

>> The week's performance continued a season-long trend of extra base hits for Heath, who has seen 17 of her 24 total hits go for extra bases (4 doubles, 2 triples, 11 home runs).

BEAST MODE
>> The Ragin' Cajuns offense posted a .375 batting average with 53 runs scored off of 63 base hits on the Spring Break road trip (April 18-24).

>> The unit recorded double-digit base hits in five of the six games on the trip and totaled 20 extra base hits (8 doubles, 1 triple, 11 home runs).

STRIKEOUT ARTISTS
>> The combined 10 strikeouts from Kandra Lamb and Sam Landry on Sunday, April 24 at App State gave the Ragin' Cajuns pitching staff double-digit strikeouts in all three games of the series. The unit collected 37 strikeouts of App State batters over the 20 innings worked.

>> The pitching staff totaled 65 strikeouts over the 39 innings worked on the Spring Break road trip (April 18-24): Meghan Schorman (28), Kandra Lamb (23) and Sam Landry (14).

>> For the season, each member of the Ragin' Cajuns trio has tallied 100-plus strikeouts: Kandra Lamb (127), Sam Landry (126) and Meghan Schorman (118).

A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Series Record: Louisiana leads, 18-7
Last Meeting: 4/7/21 // LA 12, HOU 5 (Houston, Texas)
At Lamson Park: Louisiana leads, 9-0
Last Time at Lamson Park: 4/17/13 // LA 10, HOU 5
Streak: Louisiana, +2

>> Series began during Houston's inaugural season, 2001, with the Ragin' Cajuns sweeping a doubleheader at Lamson Park on March 4, 2001.
>> Wednesday's matchup is the 10th meeting at Lamson Park, overall, and the first since April 2013.
>> Louisiana is undefeated on its home field against Houston (9-0).
>> Fourth meeting between the two programs in the Glasco era, with Louisiana holding a 2-1 edge.
>> Teams met twice in Gerry Glasco's inaugural season with Louisiana at the 2018 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. The Cougars won the regional opener, but the Ragin' Cajuns bounced back the next night to eliminate UH from the regional.
>> Overall, there have been eight NCAA postseason meetings between the two programs. The most memorable for Louisiana came in the 2008 NCAA Houston Super Regional when the Ragin' Cajuns defeated the Cougars to advance to the Women's College World Series.

NUMBERS TO KNEAUX
.193: The Ragin' Cajuns pitching staff has limited the opposition to a .193 average. Opponents hit sub-.200, combined, over the first five weeks of the season.
2.21: Team ERA for Louisiana which leads the Sun Belt Conference and ranks Top 25 nationally.
2.51: Louisiana enters the week ranked No. 3 nationally averaging 2.51 stolen bases per game (113 swipes in 45 games).
5: Of the six base hits Karly Heath posted on the Spring Break road trip, five were home runs.
6: The six triples posted by Stormy Kotzelnick are two shy of the program record (8) set by Lana Jimenez both in 1995 and 1997.
9: Prior to the App State series, the Ragin' Cajuns tallied a season-high, nine-game winning streak. The streak, which ran from April 8-20, coincided with the return of Alexa Langeliers from injury.
11: The 11 home runs hit by Karly Heath tie her with Sarah Hudek (11 in 2019) for the most by an individual in the Glasco era.
12: There are 12 different players who have combined to give Louisiana its 56 home runs.
15: Freshman Sam Landry leads Louisiana's pitching staff in overall wins (15), and is also the leader in Sun Belt play (9 wins).
17-3: The Ragin' Cajuns record in the second half of the season (since March 25).
18: The Ragin' Cajuns offense has generated double-digit runs in 18 games (17-1 record). Louisiana ranks Top 5 nationally averaging 7.3 runs per game.
20: The team total of 20 triples produced marks the most by a Louisiana Softball squad since the exact amount was recorded in 1998.
22: Louisiana's pitching staff has yielded only 22 home runs to the opposition through 288 innings.
24: The Ragin' Cajuns offense has produced double-digit hits in 24 games.
25: Quick strikes are not uncommon for the Ragin' Cajuns who have scored in the first inning in 25 of the season's 45 games.
25: Stormy Kotzelnick leads the Ragin' Cajuns with 25 extra base hits (13 doubles, 6 triples, 6 home runs).
27: Team-leading stolen base total for Maddie Hayden (15 swipes in SBC play).
28: Meghan Schorman recorded 28 strikeouts over the 14 innings she pitched on the Spring Break road trip.
29-2: Louisiana's record when scoring first.
.357: Louisiana ranks second nationally with a .357 team batting average, trailing only Oklahoma (.380). The figure has been .350 or above the entire season.
56: Home runs generated by the Ragin' Cajuns offense, the third straight completed season of the Glasco era surpassing 50 home runs (2019, 2021, 2022).
71%: Of the 24 total hits posted by Karly Heath, she's seen 71 percent go for extra bases (17 out of 24).
71: Nation-leading total of consecutive conference series won for Louisiana, a streak which began in March 2013, that was extended with the series win at App State.
150/140: The Ragin' Cajuns hitters have drawn more walks (150) than they have struck out (140).
163: Total number of extra base hits produced by Louisiana's offense (87 doubles, 20 triples, 56 home runs).
192: Number of wins for Gerry Glasco as a collegiate head coach and at Louisiana.

DIAMOND NOTES

Louisiana was preseason ranked in all four major national polls: No. 19 in Softball America, No. 22 in D1Softball and No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll.
Louisiana, the two-time defending Sun Belt regular-season and tournament champion, was selected as the favorite to win the 2022 Sun Belt Conference softball title in a vote of the league's 10 head coaches.
Kandra Lamb, Raina O'Neal and Sophie Piskos were voted onto the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Softball Preseason All-Conference Team.
Kandra Lamb represented Louisiana Softball on the Extra Inning Softball Elite 100 list and Sam Landry was named on of D1Softball's Top 75 Impact Freshman. The duo was ranked among D1Softball's Top 150 Players.
With the exception of Sophie Piskos at catcher, Raina O'Neal returning in center field and Taylor Roman at first base, the Ragin' Cajuns are using a new starter at every other position.
For Gerry Glasco, his fifth season in Louisiana has a different look and feel: the team largely consists of players he recruited and went from being one of the oldest in the nation to one of the youngest. The Ragin' Cajuns went from a roster in 2021 that was predominantly sixth-year and fifth-year players to a group in 2022 that includes eight freshmen and 12 total newcomers.
Louisiana is in a transition year in the pitching circle following the departure of former All-American and two-time Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Summer Ellyson. After working alongside Ellyson last season to lead the Ragin' Cajuns to repeat champions in the Sun Belt, Kandra Lamb takes her turn as the pitching staff's leader.
The 2022 season has brought the much-anticipated debut for Louisiana's 2021 recruiting class, which was ranked No. 1 by Extra Inning Softball and includes the No. 4-rated recruit in pitcher Sam Landry and the No. 15-ranked prospect in Louisiana native Maddie Hayden.

ABOUT LOUISIANA
During the 2021 season, the Ragin' Cajuns reached the 40-win mark for the 22nd consecutive completed season, closing out the regular season winning 25 of the final 29 games, and advanced to Championship Sunday of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. Louisiana repeated as Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament champions highlighted by an 11-1 record, regular season and tournament combined, against the league's other three NCAA Tournament participants (Texas State, Troy and South Alabama).

Moving forward into the 2022 season, Louisiana is armed with the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class of the 2021 recruits by Extra Inning Softball including the No. 4-rated recruit in pitcher Sam Landry and No. 15-rated recruit in outfielder Maddie Hayden, has first team All-Sun Belt performer Kandra Lamb back in the circle seeking to pick up where Summer Ellyson left off, and welcomes back Raina O'Neal and Taylor Roman and their power bats back to the lineup.

FOLLOW THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Facebook (/RaginCajunsSB), Twitter (@RaginCajunsSB) and Instagram (@Louisiana.SB) to stay up-to-date on all that is happening with Louisiana Softball.

Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.

-- RaginCajuns.com --

Softball Begins Final Homestand Hosting Houston in Midweek Game

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Players Mentioned

Summer Ellyson

Maddie Hayden

Karly Heath

Stormy Kotzelnick

Kandra Lamb

Sam Landry

Alexa Langeliers

Raina O'Neal

Sophie Piskos

Taylor Roman

Meghan Schorman

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

Softball Begins Final Homestand Hosting Houston in Midweek Game

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Summer Ellyson

Maddie Hayden

Karly Heath

Stormy Kotzelnick

Kandra Lamb

Sam Landry

Alexa Langeliers

Raina O'Neal

Sophie Piskos

Taylor Roman

Meghan Schorman

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