UL Softball Blanks FIU

The 20th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns recorded a non-conference home win on Thursday evening.

Louisiana blanked the FIU Panthers, 2-0, in the opening game of a short 4-game home stand, at Lamson Park.

Sophomore right-hander Summer Ellyson twirled a four-hit shutout to help the Cajuns to the triumph.

Louisiana got on the scoreboard first, scoring an unearned run in the bottom half of the second inning, when Casidy Chaumont reached on an error to begin the frame, before later crossing the plate on an RBI groundout off the bat of Brittany Rodriguez, to give them a 1-0 lead.

The Cajuns added another run, the final one of the contest, in the bottom half of the 4th inning, when Kynadi Tipler opened the inning with a double, before later scoring on a grounder off the bat of Kelli Martinez, to widen their advantage to 2-0.

FIU threatened in the top half of the 7th inning, putting runners at second and third with nobody out, but failed to score, as UL, thanks in large part to Ellyson, went on to the 2-0 shutout win.

Louisiana, who outhit FIU, 7-4, was paced at the plate by Tipler, who went 3-for-3 with a run scored, while Rodriguez and Martinez drove in runs.

Summer Ellyson (6-3) recorded the win in the circle for the Cajuns, tossing a four-hit shutout, while striking out 8 hitters.

Megan Kugelmann (3-6) suffered the loss for the Pamthers, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits in 6.0 innings of work.

View the game box score.

With the victory, Louisiana improved to 15-6 on the season, while FIU fell to 14-16.

Louisiana returns to the diamond on Saturday afternoon, when they play host to the Appalachian St. Mountaineers at Lamson Park.

The twinbill will represent the first two games of a three-game, weekend, Sun Belt Conference series.

First-pitch is set for 2 o'clock.

You can catch all the play-by-play action on Sports Radio ESPN 1420 & espn1420.com, beginning with the pregame show at 1:45 pm.