Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Sun Belt Championship)

Championship Central

2014 Sun Belt Conference Championship Bracket

Lafayette, La. – The Sun Belt Conference announced the 2014 Softball All-Conference teams and individual award winners on Tuesday night at Lamson Park as part of its Family Night festivities. The UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns grabbed three individual honors as sophomore Lexie Elkins earned Player of the Year, junior Christina Hamilton took Pitcher of the Year and head coach Michael Lotief won Coach of the Year awards.

UL Monroe outfielder Rochelle Roberts earned the Freshman of the Year award to round out the individual honorees. The winners and all-conference honorees were selected by a vote of the league’s eight head coaches.

The Sun Belt Conference presented 15 First Team All-Conference awards and 15 Second Team All-Conference awards on Tuesday night in front of the Lamson Park crowd. Each all-conference team had one spot each for catcher, first base, second base, shortstop, third base and designated player. There were two spots on each team for pitchers, three for outfielders and four at-large spots.

The Player of the Year honor is the first for UL Lafayette sophomore Lexie Elkins, who introduced herself to the Cajuns faithful with a monster 2014 season. She slugged 17 home runs and batted .386 in 48 games, all at catcher. She finished the year tops in the conference in slugging percentage (.784), RBI (64), home runs (17), and total bases (120), and ranks in the top five in batting average (4th/.386), on base percentage (3rd/.500), hits (5th/59), and walks (t-3rd/33).

She hit a season-high seven RBI against Lamar on March 7 in her second multi-homer game of the season, with the first coming in the season opener against Lamar on Feb. 7. A two-time Sun Belt Player of the Week recipient, Elkins ranks sixth in the nation in RBI per game and ninth in home runs per game.

UL Lafayette ace Christina Hamilton earned her first Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year award after compiling a 22-1 record this season with a 1.46 earned run average. The junior struck out 159 batters in 167.2 innings pitched. Hamilton has not lost a start since February 22nd against South Florida and has won 19 consecutive decisions to close the year. Of her 22 wins, five have come against nationally-ranked opponents including both games in a doubleheader sweep of the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners.

Hamilton has fanned at least 10 batters on three occasions, including a 14 strikeout performance in a complete game effort against UTSA. A two-time Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week selection, Hamilton has tossed three shutouts in 14 complete games. She finished the season 27th in the nation with a 1.46 ERA and tied for 23rd with 22 victories.

UL Monroe outfielder Rochelle Roberts has started all 20 conference games and is hitting .381 in league play, good enough for second on the squad. After a quiet first half on the base paths, she has quickly erupted into a prolific base stealer. She is 18-of-21 this season for the second-best mark on the team. She is also second on the squad in batting average at .349.

She has fanned just six times in Sun Belt play in 63 at-bats and has drawn six free passes. She became the first UL Monroe freshman to win Sun Belt Player of the Week after hitting .786 for the week ending on Apr. 19.

UL Lafayette head coach Michael Lotief has led the Ragin’ Cajuns softball team to a 41-7-1 record this season with six wins over nationally-ranked opponents. UL Lafayette began the season ranked just inside the Top 25 and has remained there all year reaching a high of No. 13/14 this past week. The Ragin’ Cajuns are second in the nation in home runs per game (1.51), sixth in the nation in win-loss percentage (.847) and 12th in both scoring (6.59 runs/game) and slugging percentage (.524).

Along with individual awards, the conference announced the First and Second Team All-Conference lists. The Ragin’ Cajuns led the way with seven total honorees as they placed five student-athletes on the First Team and two more on the Second Team.

The 2014 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship begins on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. with the No. 6 seed UL Monroe Warhawks taking on the No. 7 seed Troy Trojans at Lamson Park in Lafayette, La. The UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns own the No. 1 seed after claiming the regular-season championship. All games of the tournament will be streamed for free on SunBeltSports.org. Saturday’s championship game begins at 3 p.m. CT and will be available for viewing on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

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2014 Sun Belt First Team All-Conference

P – Christina Hamilton (UL Lafayette, Junior)

P – Hannah Campbell (South Alabama, Senior)

C – Lexie Elkins (UL Lafayette, Sophomore)

1B – Lauren Coleman (Georgia State, Junior)

2B – Olivia Watkins (WKU, Senior)

SS – Nina Villanueva (UT Arlington, Junior)

3B – Preslie Cruce (WKU, Junior)

OF – Stephanie Pilkington (South Alabama, Sophomore)

OF – Hayley Hayden (UL Lafayette, Freshman)

OF – Rochelle Roberts (UL Monroe, Freshman)

DP – Chloe Rathburn (South Alabama, Freshman)

At-Large – Farish Beard (South Alabama, Junior, P)

At-Large – Natalie Fernandez (UL Lafayette, Senior, 2B)

At-Large – Shellie Landry (UL Lafayette, Sophomore, OF)

At-Large – Kelsie Mattox (WKU, Senior, OF)

2014 Sun Belt Second Team All-Conference

P – Kaitlyn Medlam (Georgia State, Senior)

P – Emily Rousseau (WKU, Senior)

C – Callie Alford (Georgia State, Junior, C)

1B – Kelsey Vincent (UL Lafayette, Sophomore)

2B – Miyuki Navarrete (UL Monroe, Junior)

SS – Amanda Thomas (WKU, Senior)

3B – Courtney Harris (Texas State, Junior)

OF – Shelbi Redfearn (UL Lafayette, Senior)

OF – Blair Johnson (South Alabama, Junior)

OF – Ebony Wright (Troy, Senior)

DP – Kortney Koroll (Texas State, Junior)

At-Large – Rayn House (Texas State, Senior, P)

At-Large – Kacey Everett (UT Arlington, Freshman)

At-Large – Ashley Christy (Georgia State, Junior, OF)

At-Large – Timishia North (Texas State, Senior, OF)

2014 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year

Lexie Elkins (UL Lafayette, Sophomore, C)

2014 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year

Christina Hamilton (UL Lafayette, Junior, P)

2014 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year

Rochelle Roberts (UL Monroe, Freshman, OF)

2014 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year

Michael Lotief, UL Lafayette

2014 Sun Belt Team Academic Award

South Alabama