The final pieces of Alyson Habetz's first softball staff as the new UL head coach are official.
In addition to holdovers Shellie Landry as hitting coach and Karly Heath as a graduate assistant, Lacy Prejean returns as an assistant coach and Shelbi Sunseri comes from McNeese as the pitching coach.
“I am thrilled to have such a talented and dedicated group of coaches join our Louisiana Softball staff,” Habetz said in a statement. “First and foremost, Shellie Landry, Shelbi Sunseri, Lacy Prejean and Karly Heath are great individuals who prioritize the person over the athlete. They bring a wealth of softball knowledge from not only their coaching experience, but also from having competed at the highest level.
“In addition, they each have a genuine pride for the championship tradition of the Ragin’ Cajuns. Their passion and energy will inspire our student-athletes to achieve the greatness they each possess. I am truly honored to have such a fine group of coaches join our Louisiana Softball family.”
It'll be the first time the program has an all-female coaching staff since 1989 — after that year, Yvette Girouard hired Patrick Murphy to be an assistant coach in 1990. Murphy soon coached Habetz at first base before bringing Habetz to Alabama for 25 years as his assistant coach until Habetz retired last summer for one year.
Shortly after a stellar career at LSU, Sunseri hit the ground running as the pitching coach for the McNeese State Cowboys.
Sunseri was a two-way star at LSU with her final season being in 2022. She hit 48 career home runs, and had 39 career wins and a 2.41 ERA in the circle.
During her first season at McNeese in 2023, her pitching staff led the Southland Conference with a 0.98 ERA with 13 shutouts while limiting opponents to a .184 batting average. That staff was led by senior Whitney Tate and junior Ashley Vallejo.
That stellar pitching staff got McNeese one out away from the super regionals, losing in the regional finals at Washington.
In 2024, Vallejo was limited to only five innings because of an injury and Sunseri turned to senior Shaelyn Sanders, who was 20-10 with a 1.76 ERA in 199⅓ innings. The pitchers didn’t depend on strikeouts as their primary weapon, leaning heavily on a strong defense to go 40-20 overall and 22-2 in league play.
Sunseri also served as McNeese’s recruiting coordinator in her second season in Lake Charles.
This will be Prejean’s third stint as a coach for the Ragin’ Cajuns. The Scott native first joined UL’s staff in 2004 before returning to Alabama from 2007-09.
Prejean returned to coaching under Gerry Glasco in 2018 before moving to Northwestern State to become the head coach in 2023. The Demons went 19-31 last spring before Prejean resigned to return to Lafayette.
Prejean, who was on Alabama’s first College World Series team in 2000, coached the Cajuns defense under Glasco.
Landry played a bigger role in UL’s hitting this past spring. The Cajuns batted .317 with 74 doubles, 60 homers, a .392 on-base percentage and a .482 slugging percentage.
Heath spent last season as a graduate assistant under Glasco after leading the Cajuns to the super regionals as the Sun Belt Player of the Year during her senior season in 2023.