LAFAYETTE – The 21st-ranked Louisiana Softball team split a pair of games on the closing day of the 38th Annual Louisiana Classics at Lamson Park, using a pair of three-run innings in building a 10-2 (5 inn.) win over New Mexico before being dealt a 3-1 (8 inn.) loss by California in extra innings.
Brooke Ellestad jumpstarted the early morning matchup with New Mexico (1-4) launching a towering three-run home run off the scoreboard in right field in the first inning.
The Lobos scratched single runs in the second and third inning to trim UL’s lead to 3-2, but the Cajuns responded in the home half of the third. A clutch two-out single from Victoria Valdez, that was misplayed, put in motion in second three-run frame of the contest stretching the lead to 6-2.
Lauren Allred’s two-run double in the fourth and a pair of fielder’s choice RBI grounders in the fifth moved the Cajuns’ lead to run-rule territory.
Ellestad and Allred combined for five RBI. The home run was Ellestad’s first as a Cajun while the double put Allred into the hit column for the first time on the weekend.