The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Louisiana-Lafayette
No. 3 Softball concludes season with 5-3 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette at NCAA Austin Regional
05.21.2011 | Softball
May 21, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas - The No. 3 national seed Texas Softball team was bounced from the NCAA Austin Regional, Saturday night after dropping its elimination game with 25th-ranked Louisiana Lafayette, 5-3. The win improved Louisiana-Lafayette to 51-10 and advanced the Ragin' Cajuns to Sunday's regional championship game at 1 p.m. Central against Houston. Texas concluded its season with an overall record of 46-10.
Longhorns' freshman starter Rachel Fox (18-2) suffered the loss for UT after allowing three runs on four hits, walking four and striking out two in 2.2 innings of work. Sophomore All-America righthander Blaire Luna spelled her, firing 4.1 innings of four-hit relief, allowing two runs, walking two and fanning five. ULL starter Ashley Brignac (32-6) notched the complete-game victory for the Cajuns, surrendering three runs on six hits, walking two and striking out two.
Texas freshman shortstop Taylor Thom headlined the Horns' offense with a double in the sixth and a single in the seventh. Sophomore rightfielder Taylor Hoagland ripped a two-run homer in the loss to push her UT single-season home run record to 15 and her career total to 26.
The Cajuns jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the third, taking advantage of three hits and three walks to forge ahead. Back-to-back singles by Natalie Fernandez and Katie Smith started the frame and an RBI single by Christi Orgeron pushed the first run across. Gabriele Bridges drew a walk to load the bases and Sarah Draheim earned a walk with the sacks packed to scored ULL's second run. A sacrifice fly to centerfield by Paige Cormier scored pinch runner Erikka Murphy from third to move the lead to three before Luna entered to end the threat.
Louisiana-Lafayette tacked on two more in the fourth, using a leadoff single by Fernandez to get things going and a sacrifice bunt by Smith to move her into scoring position. Nerissa Myers drew a walk to put two on before consecutive RBI singles by Orgeron and Bridges pushed the margin to five.
Texas was stymied over the first six frames, managing just six baserunners, but rebounded in a big way in the seventh. Freshman designate player Karina Scott was hit by a pitch to open the inning and she promptly moved to second on a ULL wild pitch. Scott then raced home for UT's first run on an RBI single to right field by junior first baseman Lexy Bennett. After senior second baseman Raygan Feight struck out, Hoagland followed with a two-run homer to left that closed the gap to 5-3. A pair of two-out singles by Thom and Hooks put two on in the inning, but Brignac retired Courtney Craig on a soft liner to second to close out the game.
