LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball team’s summer 2023 transfer class has been ranked No. 10 in the country, as announced by D1Softball.com Thursday morning.
Louisiana’s transfer class includes senior infielder/pitcher Denali Loecker (Iowa), junior infielder Brooke Ellestad (St. Thomas), junior pitcher Lexie Delbrey (Florida) and junior catcher/infielder Sam Roe (Florida).
The Ragin’ Cajuns are one of the first five programs (Nos. 6-10) to be revealed in D1Softball’s Top 10 transfer classes for the spring 2024 campaign, joined by Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona State and Florida.
The transfer class assembled by Gerry Glasco is slotted ahead of Texas A&M (No. 11), Oklahoma State (No. 12), Florida Atlantic (No. 13), UCF (No. 14) and Houston (No. 15).
With assistance from 643 Charts, the D1Softball staff ranked the classes utilizing various advanced metrics and use of the wWAA (similar to baseball’s Win Above Replacement – WAR stat) to help measure how players fit in with their new programs.
Over her final two seasons with Iowa, Loecker reached double digits in home runs by totaling 10 each time. A two-way performer, she accumulated over 200 innings in the pitcher’s circle from 2021-23 and locked down nine (9) saves last spring.
A 2022 NFCA Freshman of the Year Top 25 finalist, 2022 Summit League Freshman of the Year and two-time All-Summit League performer, Ellestad carries a .404 career batting average, 12 home runs, and 64 career RBI into her debut season with Louisiana next spring.
Delbrey produced a 22-6 overall record, a 2.63 ERA and crafted 171 strikeouts, serving as a key part of Florida’s rotation the past two seasons. She held opponents to a .194 batting average over 191-1/3 innings of work.
Roe generated a .288 average with 60-plus hits and 30-plus RBI over 103 games played with SEC-based Florida from 2022-23. Of the 62 total hits she produced, a total of 25 percent (16) went for extra bases.
The four-time defending Sun Belt Conference champion Ragin’ Cajuns are currently preparing for the seventh season of Glasco’s tenure with the team portion of fall practice set to begin in early October.
ABOUT LOUISIANA
During the 2023 season, Louisiana (50-16, 22-2 Sun Belt) collected its fourth consecutive Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament championships under the guidance of Gerry Glasco, posted the program’s first 50-win season since 2019 and advanced to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament – all accomplished against the nation’s No. 7 toughest schedule.
The Ragin’ Cajuns also continued impressive streaks of consecutive Sun Belt series won (now 81 straight) and consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (now 24 straight) and attained a No. 9 RPI rating and Top 20 rankings across all major national polls.
