With all due respect, considering that UL interim athletic director Scott Farmer is the chairman of the group that selects and assigns teams in the NCAA softball tournament, the committee fell victim to insanity once again this year when it came to the Ragin’ Cajuns.
The quote commonly attributed to Albert Einstein: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”
Two years straight, the softball committee has sent the Cajuns into an NCAA regional against a nationally-ranked host team. Two years straight, the Cajuns have helped end that ranked team’s season before those hosts even made it to Championship Sunday.
Last year it was LSU that didn’t make it out of the second day of the double-elimination regionals in Baton Rouge, thanks in part to a loss to the UL squad. On Saturday, the Cajuns made it two in two years by knocking off national No. 3-seed Texas 5-3 in Austin, Texas.
Regardless of what happens on Sunday, when the Cajuns have to beat Houston’s Cougars twice to keep their season alive and advance to the Super Regional (the first game is at 1 p.m., with the second, if necessary, starting right after), UL has once again made a national splash in softball by ending the season of the host and heavily-favored Longhorns.
They did it thanks to the continued power hitting of Christi Orgeron, Gabrielle Bridges —the only senior on the Cajun roster —and others in the middle of the lineup. They did it thanks to the continued success of the slap-happy group that hits 8-9-1 in the lineup —Natalie Fernandez, Katie Smith and Nerissa Myers.
But mostly, they did it on Ashley Brignac’s strong right arm. The former national prep player of the year, who missed most of the last two seasons with a shoulder injury that eventually required surgery, had to hurl almost every pitch of the regional after an injury to number two starter Christina Hamilton in Saturday’s first game. But Brignac still took a shutout into the final inning against the third-ranked Longhorns, an effort similar to her dominant performance in the Women’s College World Series three years ago when she beat No. 1-ranked Florida.
Make no mistake; the odds are still long for the Cajuns to advance to the Super Regionals. They’ll have to beat Houston — a team that beat them 7-2 on Friday to snap an 11-game winning streak — and do it twice in a row on Sunday to keep their season alive.
Even if that doesn’t happen, though, the UL softball team and program (note the difference) have made repeated statements over the past two weeks. The Cajun team humbled everyone in its path in the Sun Belt Tournament which it hosted at Lamson Park, run-ruling the league’s second-best team in Florida Atlantic 8-0 in the title game.
The Cajun program, meanwhile, drew over 10,000 fans to the newly-renovated Lamson facility for that tournament, smashing the tournament attendance record by well, nobody really knows, because the numbers have never been worth counting anywhere else. But it is noteworthy that only one other Sun Belt BASEBALL tournament has ever drawn 10,000 fans, that one coming here in Lafayette a few years ago.
Naturally, the NCAA committee ignored all of that, ignored the now-51-win total this season and shipped the Cajuns off to a pwer-packed regional hosted by a high national seed. And all it takes is a cursory look at the results, or a little watching of the regional action on the ESPN networks, to realize that there were some really weak regionals staged by the committee, and several teams not nearly as good as the Cajuns, Longhorns or Cougars will be advancing to the Super Regional round.
Fortunately for the Cajun players, they’ve been under-seeded by the NCAA softball committee for so many years that it doesn’t bother them anymore.
But you’d think the group of supposedly educated and sports-savvy collegiate administrators that make up that group would learn from its mistakes. Don’t blame Farmer; he has to leave the room when it comes time to discuss the Cajuns’ fate in the NCAA bracket seedings and positioning. He’s probably holding back an “I told you so” to his committee mates right about now.
But the committee wouldn’t understand, anyway. In Einstein’s eyes, they’re insane, and who are we to argue with Albert Einstein?
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed