It’s just one game, but it was a pretty impressive performance for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns with a 5-0 win over Troy on Wednesday in the opening round of the Sun Belt Tournament at Lamson Park.
It started in the circle, Sage Hoover may have pitched her best game of the season.
At the plate, the Cajuns executed for three runs in the first inning and never looked back.
“Really proud of our team,” UL coach Alyson Habetz said. “We came out with a sense of urgency, which we’ve struggled to do in the past. In front of our fans, I think it just … It’s exhilarating,”
With the win, UL improved to 29-26 overall and will now play No. 1-seeded UL Monroe at 4 p.m. Thursday on day two of the single-elimination bracket.
“It kind of gets us over the hump and the sense of, OK it’s do or die,” Habetz added. “We talked about before the game – pressure’s a privilege. This is what we played for all season.”
Hoover stole the show on day one, tossing a two-hit shutout at the Trojans with nine strikeouts. Her previous high in strikeouts was 10 against Abilene Christian. The most against a Sun Belt club, though, was six against Coastal Carolina.
“I had a matcha, and I had a bagel with I think it was bacon, egg, cheese, and they had hash brown on it,” Hoover laughed. “So I have to go get that again tomorrow because that worked.”
Even better, Hoover didn’t walk any batters and only allowed a leadoff single to Mia Tidmore in the second until the seventh. She reached second base on a wild pitch, but even that was questioned by UL’s faithful – thinking it was a foul ball off the bat.
Makaley Boswell led off the seventh with a single, but never advanced.
“It just means more, it’s postseason,” said Hoover, who threw 96 pitches. “Personally, I’ve never made a regional in my career and I want to make a regional. These seniors are so important to me – specifically Lexi Delbrey is my best friend and she’s a senior and I’m going to fight and claw for her.
“I think just this team, we’re so good. We just have to hit that peak. We just have to keep fighting.”
Offensively, UL scored all the runs it would need with three in the first.
Kennedy Marceaux walked and Mia Liscano got a bunt single. Two outs later, though, it required a clutch RBI triple by Cecilia Vasquez to get on the board.
“I was trying to stay calm,” Vasquez said. “I know I took the first pitch, and I looked over and coach Aly, and she kind of (motioning with hands to calm down), so I made sure to take a breath.
“I just wanted to get it done for my team, especially with two strikes. I was not going down.”
The ball was misplayed in right to get a second run home. Then Mia Norwood’s RBI single to right made it 3-0.
The Cajuns added an insurance run in the fourth. Emily Smith walked, pinch runner Miki Watts advanced on a bunt and a ground out and then scored on a wild pitch.
In the fifth, Brooke Otto reached on a fielder’s choice, before getting to third base on a wild pitch and a stolen base.
Unfortunately , Otto suffered a bloody mouth during the collision on the stolen base at third.
Pinch runner McKayla Ferguson then scored on Haley Hart’s squeeze bunt for the fifth run.
“Short-term memory on both sides,” Habetz said of the desired mindset. “If I strike out, like, so what? I have to be really present. So we enjoy this, and we grow from this, and we get energized from this, but knowing that we’re on a mission, and they are.”
Sun Belt Tournament Schedule
Wednesday’s Games
No. 10 Coastal Carolina 6, No. 7 Ga. Southern 2
No. 8 UL 5, No. 9 Troy 0
Thursday’s Games
No. 3 Texas State vs. No. 6 James Madison, 10 a.m.
No. 2 Marshall vs. No. 10 Coastal Carolina, 1 p.m.
No. 1 UL Monroe vs. No. 8 UL, 4 p.m.
No. 4 Southern Miss vs. No. 5 South Alabama
Friday’s Games
Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 3 p.m.
Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 6 p.m.
Saturday’s Game
Championship game, 1:30 p.m.
