Kaitlyn Alderink to Return to UL Softball in 2021

An important softball player with College World Series experience has made the decision to return to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in 2021.

Sources tell us that Kaitlyn Alderink will return to Louisiana next season.

Alderink, who was a senior this season, along with all spring sports participants, was granted another year of collegiate eligibility by the NCAA, following the cancellation of the 2020 season, caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Shortstop Allissa Dalton, pitcher Summer Ellyson, and catcher Julie Rawls have also elected to return.

The Cajuns had 8 seniors on the 2020 squad, which was 18-6, and ranked in the top ten of every major softball poll, before the rest of the season was canceled, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

A second baseman, Alderink was hitting .364 through 24 games, which was tops on the team, to go along with 8 stolen bases.

A graduate transfer, Alderink spent the first three years of her college softball career at Texas A&M, before deciding to transfer to UL last November.

A veteran of 181 career games at Texas A&M, Alderink hit .364 as a freshman in 2016, to go along with 41 runs batted in and 58 runs scored, which was good enough for her to earn SEC All-Freshman honors.

As a sophomore in 2017, Alderink hit .317 with 24 RBI's, 36 runs scored, and 15 stolen bases, as she earned Second-Team All-South Region accolades.

In 2018, as a junior, Alderink .270 with 20 RBI's and 37 runs scored.

A native of Keller, Texas, Alderink compiled a .963 career fielding percentage over her three seasons in College Station.

A graduate of Keller High School, Alderink was named to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Fastpitch All-Metroplex Team and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Softball Super Team, while being tabbed a second-team All-Area infielder by the Dallas Morning News as a senior.