The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s softball team dropped two of their games against the Troy Trojans in Alabama last weekend.
Losing the series brought the Cajuns to an even 19–19 in overall record and dropped their conference standing to 5–7. The Cajuns have not lost eight total conference games since the 2008 season.
In the matchup on Friday evening, Cajuns’ starting pitcher Tyra Clary kept things clean early, allowing just two hits and no runs through the first four innings.
Louisiana generated a two-run lead off a double to left center courtesy of junior outfielder Erin Ardoin in the second inning, but Ardoin herself got left in scoring position after stealing third off of a wild pitch by Troy’s Alyssa Faircloth.
The clean pitching wouldn’t last forever, though. The Trojans offense suddenly awoke in the fifth inning, as their senior slugger Annie Orman hit a left-field home run off her second at-bat.
Sophomore utility player Makaley Boswell took advantage of her second time through the order with a left-side homer of her own to take the lead from the Cajuns, 3–2.
Freshman Caiden Oliva completed the trifecta of opposite-field home-run shots for the Trojans off their first pitch taken in the sixth inning, providing a nice insurance run for her team.
Now in desperation mode, the Cajuns offense started doing anything it could to generate runs, but ended up floundering to two outs, none on base in the seventh.
After a full-count walk and a single pointed at third base, Troy’s coaches decided to intentionally walk Cajuns senior Sam Roe, likely remembering her walk-off just a couple weeks prior.
What they didn’t suspect is that Cecilia Vasquez could be just as clutch. She stepped up and delivered a two-RBI double deep to left-center, tying the game at 4–4.
Freshman Mallory Wheeler had come in for relief for the Cajuns, and she coaxed three straight ground outs to send the game to extra innings.
Unfortunately, the Cajuns weren’t able to get anything going, and a brutal throwing error made under pressure by Vasquez got Troy the walk-off win, 5–4.
Saturday’s first outing again featured a quiet first couple of innings, and again the Cajuns opened up first, as senior Maddie Hayden hit an RBI double to left to score the match’s first run in the third inning.
Sam Roe would clean up the inning perfectly with another double deep to right-center field, taking a commanding 4–0 lead for the Cajuns and drawing a mound visit for Troy pitcher Mya Holt.
The Cajuns added another run when Ardoin stole home from third base off a catcher error. Troy mounted a lengthy rally in the fifth, loading the bases and scoring off a Mia Tidmore double, 5–3.
The Trojans struck again in the sixth, as senior hitter Cassidy Boltz hit a double to bring Oliva and McKinney home and tie the game.
The Cajuns had nothing offensively in the seventh, grounding out three straight at-bats to set up another heartbreaking loss, this time by a walk-off single to Boswell, 6–5.
For the second half of the double-header, junior pitcher Bethaney Noble drew her ninth season start for the Cajuns, and immediately spiked fans’ stress levels by hitting a batter and losing a full-count decision in the first inning, but escaped unscathed.
Yet again, the Cajuns led early off a Roe single batted in by freshman Mia Norwood, who was filling in at the flex spot for the game.
Noble did a good job avoiding the power of the Troy lineup for the game, coaxing fly outs from what were previously deep hits or home runs, and so rendered the Trojans unable to answer late as usual.
The Cajuns put up more offense in the sixth, with another freshman, Emily Smith, stepping up and hitting a single-run homer to put the Cajuns up two runs. Ardoin got Vasquez home again on a double down the right field, and the Cajuns would win with no Troy shenanigans this time, 4–1.
Next up for the Cajuns is a return to Lamson for a weekend series against the James Madison Dukes, starting Friday, Apr. 11.