Ragin' Cajuns, Elkins top choice in Preseason Sun Belt softball picks

The 11th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns softball team was selected as the favorite to finish atop the 2016 Sun Belt Conference standings, and senior catcher Lexie Elkins was chosen as the Preseason Student-Athlete of the Year in picks voted on by the conference’s nine head coaches.
Louisiana, which finished the 2015 season with a 42-12 record and claimed its 13th Sun Belt Conference regular season championship in the 15 years of league competition since 2001, returns all but one of the nine hitters from its 2015 starting lineup that produced a school-record 116 home runs.
The Ragin’ Cajuns received eight of the possible nine first place votes in the Sun Belt Conference’s preseason poll and with 98 total points, eclipsed No. 25 South Alabama, which had one first-place vote and 90 points, for top billing.
“Our players and fans understand that awards and honors are not given based on a preseason vote,” Louisiana head coach Michael Lotief said in a news release. “They are earned on the field through hard work and even some ups and downs. Our conference is consistently in the top tier in RPI and has so many great players.
“We know other teams will give us their best shot, and we will be pushed and exposed, week in and week out,” he said. “We are excited and ready for the challenge.”
Elkins is the two-time reigning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, having won the award in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The Victoria, Texas, native generated a school-record 32 home runs in 2015, which led all levels of collegiate softball.
Elkins will attempt to become the first player in Ragin’ Cajuns and Sun Belt history to claim player of the year honors in a third straight season.
A first-team All-America choice and reigning NFCA/Diamond Sports Division I Catcher of the Year, Elkins was the frontrunner at catcher on the preseason All-Sun Belt team. Teammates Kelsey Vincent (first base), Haley Hayden (second base), DJ Sanders (shortstop) and Shellie Landry (outfield) joined Elkins on the preseason All-SBC squad.
“All of our players are so deserving to be recognized because of how hard they work on the field and in the classroom — individual honors are not our top focus or priority,” Lotief said in a news release. “But when the spotlight shines on one, it really tells the role that so many individuals play in that development, including fans, professors, family and staff.”
Vincent, a member of the All-Sun Belt squad the past two seasons and first-team selection at first base in 2015, posted personal single-season bests in average (.308), hits (44), home runs (18), RBIs (40), slugging percentage (.755) and extra base hits (28) last season. She led all Sun Belt Conference first basemen in home runs and ranked second in conference play to Elkins with 13 home runs.
Named to the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team for a second straight season in 2015, Hayden reached 60 runs, 60 hits and 50 RBIs for the second straight year. The West Monroe product registered a team-high 20 multiple-hit games, collecting three-plus hits six times and ranked third on the team with 16 multiple-RBI games.
Sanders led all Sun Belt Conference shortstops in fewest errors committed with only eight in 157 chances as a freshman in 2015. She competed internationally in the World Cup of Softball and Junior Women’s World Championship as a member of 2015 U.S. Junior Women’s National Team this past summer and recently attended the 2016 USA Softball Women’s National Team Selection Camp.
Landry was an All-Sun Belt first team selection for the second straight year in 2015. Thirty seven of her 64 hits were for extra bases (58 percent). She generated 18 multi-hit and 18 multi-RBI games and ranked in the Top 50 nationally in home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage.
The Ragin’ Cajuns start the 2016 season Feb. 12-14 at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Then, they make their Lamson Park debut in the Louisiana Classics Feb. 19-21, beginning the tournament with a 2 p.m., doubleheader against Oregon Feb. 19.