UL Softball Downs Appalachian St., Extend Win Streak

The Sun Belt Conference softball win streak continues for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.

10th-ranked Louisiana defeated the Appalachian St. Mountaineers, 3-1, in the opening game of a three-game, weekend, league series in Boone, North Carolina on Friday night, in a match-up of the two top teams in the Sun Belt Conference.

The triumph kept UL's Sun Belt Conference record perfect this season, with wins in all 16 games, while running their regular season league win streak to 21 games, dating back to last season.

Another win over the final two games would also extend the Cajuns' current league series win streak to 52, which would extend their own school and Sun Belt Conference record.

Louisiana has not dropped a conference series since the weekend of St. Patrick's Day in 2013, and their conference win streak stands as the longest in the nation.

In addition, with the triumph, UL extended their current overall win streak to 12 games, a streak that began with the opening game of the South Alabama series.

Louisiana scored the only runs of the contest in the top half of the 7th, when Lexie Comeaux drove home a run with an infield hit, before another run scored on a throwing error, prior to the final run scoring on a bases-loaded walk to Julie Rawls, to give them a 3-0 lead.

Appalachian St. scored their only run of the game in the bottom half of the frame, when Baylee Morton singled home a run with two outs, to make it 3-1.

That would be all the scoring in the game, as Louisiana went on to the 3-1 victory.

Louisiana, who outhit Appalachian St., 9-4, was led at the plate by Sarah Hudek, Keeli Milligan, and Kourtney Gremillion, who collected two hits apiece, while Comeaux and Rawls were credited with the only runs batted in of the game.

Summer Ellyson (24-4) recorded the win inside the circle for the Cajuns, allowing one run on four hits while striking out 9 batters.

Kenzie Longanecker (14-3) suffered the loss for Appalachian St., allowing 3 runs on 9 hits over 7.0 innings of work.

View the game box score.

With the victory, the Cajuns improved to 36-4, overall, and 16-0 in Sun Belt Conference play, while Appalachian St. dropped to 27-12, and 11-4, respectively.

The second game of the series will take place on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for noon (central).