University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Top 25 Showdown: Cajuns-Crimson Tide Clash Thursday at 7 p.m.
3/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
LAFAYETTE – The 25th-ranked
Louisiana's
Ragin' Cajuns softball team will open its season-long
16-game homestand here Thursday at Lady Cajun Park in a
7 p.m.
single-game showdown against No. 16 Alabama in a matchup
of ranked teams.
The game will be carried live on SportsRadio ESPN
1420-KPEL AM in the Lafayette area and will also be
available via the Internet at
www.weareradio.com. Jay
Walker and Steve Peloquin will call of the action live
from Lady Cajun Park beginning at
6:45 p.m.
The Cajuns (15-5) enter the game fresh off of its first ranking of the 2003 season and will be playing their first contest in 13 days. UL Lafayette last played on Friday, March 14 at the KIA Klassic against then-No. 6 Oklahoma falling to the Sooners 1-0 on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth.
The Cajuns are 10-1 at home this season and have won seven straight in their friendly confines and 110 of the last 122 dating back to 1999. The Cajuns are 58-8 (.879) at home under head coach Stefni Lotief.
Louisiana-Lafayette has lost three of its last four outings, but two of those three losses were to Top 10 teams (No. 2 Arizona and No. 6 Oklahoma) and the third loss came on a two-out rally by Long Beach State in the bottom of the seventh.
Alabama (25-10) will bring a season-high six-game winning streak into Thursday's game and is coming off of a weekend SEC sweep of Kentucky. The Tide has won 11 of its last 12 outings since a season-high four-game losing streak Feb. 28-March 2 in the Crimson Classic.
The Crimson Tide is coached by former Cajuns assistant coach Pat Murphy (1990-94) and former All-American Alyson Habetz (1990-95) - both in their fifth season with the Crimson Tide softball program.
This will be the second meeting all-time between the two teams and first since Feb. 22, 1997 when the two squads met in the 11th Annual Louisiana Classics. UL Lafayette won 3-0 as then-senior pitcher Jennifer Clendenin tossed a complete-game two-hit shutout of the Tide.
Louisiana-Lafayette is 1-2 versus ranked opponents this season and ended a nine-game losing streak to ranked teams with a 3-0 win over then-No.16 Florida State at the KIA Klassic. Alabama is the first ranked team to visit Lady Cajun Park since the 2001 season when Louisiana State faced the Cajuns on April 18 in a twinbill.
Senior
All-American Becky McMurtry gave the Cajuns the win over
FSU at the KIA Klassic with her sixth home run of the
season in the bottom of the fifth inning. McMurtry was
5-for-14 (.357) at the KIA and currently leads the
Cajuns with a .368 batting average.
The North Platte, Neb., native is hitting .462 at Lady Cajun Park this season with five home runs and 12 RBI. McMurtry leads the Cajuns in extra-base hits with 14 (6 HR, 8 2B) and in runs scored with 22.
True freshman Danyele Gomez will seek to end her recent slump which has lowered her season batting average to .361. Gomez is 2-for-13 slump over the past five games. The Metairie native leads the team with eight home runs and 23 RBI and needs just four more home runs to tie former All-American and USA Softball Elite Team member Alana Addison's freshman record for home runs set in 1999.
Once again this season the Cajuns continue to dominate in the power hitting categories. UL Lafayette has hit 35 home runs as a team for an average of 1.8 per game. On this current pace, the Cajuns would hit 85 home runs which would eclipse the school record 76 set last season. Louisiana-Lafayette has hit 30 of the 35 home runs at Lady Cajun Park.
The offense has enjoyed playing at home this season. Louisiana-Lafayette has scored 80 of 112 runs at their home facility and is outscoring the opposition 80-18 for an average of 7-1 per game. The team slugging percentage is .691 at Lady Cajun Park and the Cajuns have hit 46 extra-base hits.
In
the circle sophomore Brooke Mitchell and senior Michael Parrott continue to impress. Mitchell leads the team
with 92 strikeouts and is averaging 9.86 K/game. Parrott
has allowed just three earned runs through 33 1/3
innings of work and sports a team-best 0.63 ERA. The two
are the top pitchers in the Sun Belt Conference.
Mitchell is holding opponents to a .116 batting average and opponents are hitting just .087 with runners on base when she is pitching. Mitchell has allowed just five hits in her last 17 2/3 innings of work and tossed a one-hitter against then-No. 6 Oklahoma and limited Long Beach State to just three hits, two of which came in the bottom of the seventh.
Alabama features four players batting above .300 led by Jennifer Reach's .391 average. Jackie McCalin (.352 average) is the top run producer with 28 RBI.
The Crimson Tide features one Lafayette area product in Scott native Lacy Prejean. The Carencro High School standout is a senior catcher for the Tide and is currently hitting .257 with four home runs, four doubles and 18 RBI. She began the season on an eight-game hitting streak.
In the circle UA is led by freshman pitcher Stephanie VanBrakle's 1.23 ERA. Erin Wright leads the Crimson Tide's staff with 12 wins and 96 strikeouts in 95 1/3 innings of work. Opponents are hitting just .180 against VanBrakle, but are hitting .240 off of Erin Wright and .293 against Jennifer Wright.
The Cajuns are 1-0 versus SEC teams this season, having run-ruled Auburn 9-1 in six innings at the ULM Mardi Gras Classic Sunday, Feb. 16. The Cajuns are 15-0 all-time against teams from Alabama.
Following Thursday's game, Louisiana-Lafayette will continue its homestand with an 11 a.m. doubleheader Friday against Prairie View A&M.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
