NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's third-year softball team will play a slightly different sport — cabbageball — Friday against members of the New Orleans Police Department.
        The game will start at 6 p.m. Friday at Wesley Barrow Stadium's softball facility. Admission is free. The facility is not on the XULA campus; approximate address is 6500 Press Drive, New Orleans LA 70126. The softball field is behind baseball's left-field wall.
        A cabbageball is larger and softer and does not travel as fast as a regulation softball. Players do not use gloves.
        NOPD invited XULA to play.

photo of Alexis Richardson by Yamlak Tsega