The 12th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajun softball team split a pair of games in the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship on Friday, falling to the South Alabama Jaguars, 5-1, in 8 innings, before defeating the ULM Warhawks, 14-6.

The split mean the Cajuns advance to the tournament finals where they will face South Alabama in a single-game championship.

In their first game against South Alabama, Louisiana scored an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning, to take a 1-0 lead.

The game stayed that way until the top half of the seventh inning, when South Alabama's Amanda Minahan hit a two-run home run, giving the Jaguars a 2-1 lead.

The Cajuns came right back, scoring a run to tie things, 2-2, in the bottom of the seventh, before the Jaguars got another two-run homer, this one from Blair Johnson, to take a 4-2 lead, and the eventual two-run win

The loss put an end to Louisiana 13-game win streak.

South Alabama, the second-seed in the tournament, was led by Minahan and Emily Messer, who each had two hits.

Shebi Redfearn paced the top-seeded Cajuns in a losing cause, collecting three hits, while Lexie Elkins, Haley Hayden, and Corin Voinche each had two.

Hannah Campbell (17-5) picked-up the win for the Jaguars, allowing only one earned run over eight innings.

Christina Hamilton (23-2), the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year, suffered the loss for Louisiana, as her personal 20-game win streak came to an end..

With the victory, the Jaguars improved to 40-11 on the season, while the Cajuns fell to 42-8-1.

 

After the loss to South Alabama, Louisiana moved on to take on the ULM Warhawks in an elimination game.

The Cajuns scored two runs in the top of the second, to take a 2-0 lead, before ULM scored five runs in the bottom half of the frame, to take a 5-2 advantage.

After that is was all Louisiana, as the Cajuns scored 12 unanswered runs, to lead it, 14-5, before the Warhawks scored a run in the bottom half of the seventh, as UL advanced with the 8-run win.

Elkins and Samantha Walsh both homered for Louisiana, with the blast by Walsh being a grand slam, as the Cajuns outhit the Warhawks, 14-7.

Victoria Brown (6-1) was the winning pitcher for Louisiana, while Haylie Wilson (4-4) suffered the loss for ULM.

With the win, the Cajuns improved to 43-8-1 on the season, while the Warhawks, who were eliminated from the tournament, fell to 25-27.

 

Louisiana now moves on to the championship game take on Saturday, where they will take on South Alabama.

First-pitch is scheduled for 3 o'clock.

 

 

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