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NCAA Softball Tournament Schedule: Time, TV, and preview of Arizona vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

Getting prepped for Arizona's Super Regional

By Jason Bartel
Jason Bartel

Arizona's quest for a ninth National Championship resumes on Friday night as the Wildcats travel east to take on the UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns.

Here's the viewing info:

Time:

6 PM MST (9 PM ET)

TV:

ESPNU

Former Arizona Wildcat Jennie Finch will be the analyst for ESPN this weekend, with Melissa Lee doing Play-by-play.

Preview:

Arizona enters Super Regional play with the highest team batting average of the 16 teams remaining, sitting at .355 for the season. After claiming their 25th Regional title, the Wildcats have also hit 106 total home runs this season, the fourth-highest total in program history.

Lafayette is known historically for their offense, but they are the inferior offensive team compared to Arizona, having knocked out 85 home runs and hitting at a .308 clip.

While the Wildcats lack a star pitcher, ULL has one in Christina Hamilton. This season, the junior right-hander has put up a 27-2 record and a 1.53 ERA. Her ERA ranks 23rd nationally, and she sits tied for 15th in wins. The Cajuns also have Jordan Wallace, who has a 14-3 record this year.

As far as runs scored, Arizona also has the advantage, leading the nation with 7.69 runs scored per game. Lafayette ranks tenth at 6.57 runs/game.

The main thing Lafayette has going for it this weekend is their home crowd. Coach Candrea talked after winning the regional about how he's been thrown out of just about every game he's coached at Lafayette. Also, while talking to Jennie Finch a little over a week ago, she brought up just how crazy that crowd is.

Another thing Finch brought up was the style of hitting that the Ragin' Cajuns are known for. Coach Michael Lotief has been at ULL for 11 seasons now, and he is known for the "split grip" batting style he teaches. As Candrea calls it, it's a "grip it and rip it" type of offense. Basically, expect this weekend to be the battle of the offenses, and which ones can figure out the pitchers the quickest.

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