Lady Raiders Third Seed in Tourney After Losses to ULL

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee softball (31-21, 11-9) lost two heartbreakers 3-1, 6-3 to No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette (52-6, 18-0) Sunday at Lady Raider Field.

With the two losses, Middle Tennessee enters the Sun Belt Tournament as the third seed on Thursday at Louisiana-Lafayette. The Lady Raiders will face No. 6 seed New Mexico State in opening round action at 11 a.m. at Ragin Cajun Park.

Middle Tennessee just couldn't seem to get anyone around the bases in the first game, as the Lady Raiders stranded nine base runners in the team's 3-1 loss. The Lady Raiders biggest threat came in the bottom of the third with the game scoreless and Middle Tennessee had bases loaded. With one out, junior catcher Leah Grothause and senior Cortney Mitchell each struck out to end the inning and the threat.

Louisiana-Lafayette broke the game open in the sixth inning thanks to a couple of Lady Raider miscues. With the bases loaded, Hillary Guidry scored on an error and then Holly Tankersly came in to score on a passed ball by Grothause. The Ragin Cajuns scored the third run of the inning off a sacrifice fly by Brittany Bryant.

Mitchell knocked in the only run of the game for the Lady Raiders to blow hurler Brooke Mitchell's attempt at her second shutout of the series. After Grothause singled and advanced to second on a throw, Mitchell hit a single between shortstop and second base to plate Grothause.

Freshman Brittany Herald took the loss and falls to 4-2 on the year. She allowed four hits, but none of the runs were earned, and also recorded four strikeouts.

In game two, Louisiana-Lafayette struck first with a solo homerun by Tankersly, which proved to be the only homerun of the series. Middle Tennessee answered in the bottom of the first with three runs. With the bases loaded, Herald knocked in all three runs with a three RBI double to plate Kristina Hieb, Grothause and Muriel Ledbetter.

Middle Tennessee rode the 3-1 lead, until Louisiana-Lafayette took the lead in the top of the fifth inning with three runs. The Ragin Cajuns added a run in the sixth and the seventh to end the game and complete the Sun Belt regular season undefeated.

Ashley Frizzell took the loss for the Lady Raiders and falls to 6-4. Crystal Bobo started the game and went 2.1 innings allowing one run on three hits. Frizzell tossed 3.2 innings allowing five runs on six hits and struck out one. Herald came in and tossed one inning of scoreless ball to close out the game.

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