McMurtry, Mitchell and Gomez Tabbed Sun Belt's Top Talent

Wednesday, May 7, 2003

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Three players were awarded with the league's highest honors, four were named to the First team and the 21st-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team was presented with its 2003 Sun Belt Conference regular season championship trophy as the league handed outs its yearly awards during the SBC Softball Tournament banquet held here the Carroll Knicely Conference Center Wednesday evening on Western Kentucky University's south campus.

Senior All-American third baseman Becky McMurtry earned repeat honors as the Player of the Year, Brooke Mitchell was tabbed the league's top pitcher and Danyele Gomez garnered the Freshman of the Year award as the Ragin' Cajuns and the league's highest honorees.

A grand total of four Cajuns were given First Team recognition led by McMurtry at third base.

Mitchell, the conference's leader in earned run average and freshmen Brittany Bryant (second base) and Gomez (outfield) were also members of the First Team.

Senior first baseman Summar Lapeyrouse and sophomore outfielder Crystal George were the Cajuns' representatives on the Second Team.

All in all a grand total of six Cajuns were honored.

McMurtry, last year's Player and Newcomer of the Year, ended the regular season with a SBC-best .426 average. The North Platte, Neb., native hit a league-leading .489 in conference games with four home runs and 21 RBI. She ended the regular season with 13 home runs, 15 doubles and 49 RBI.

McMurtry had a 15-game hitting streak during the season from March 14-April 13 in which she batted .611 (22-for-36). She also had an errorless streak of 22 consecutive games which spanned over 61 chances.

This season, the All-American has committed just five errors at the “hot spot” of the infield and will enter the Sun Belt Tournament riding an errorless streak of 15 games and has made just one error since March 1.

McMurtry's selection continued the Cajuns string of Player of the Year awards to four straight seasons. McMurtry became the first player in the history of the league to repeat as Player of the Year.

Gomez, who was not recruited out of high school, had a phenomenal regular season. The Metairie native slugged a new school single-season record 17 home runs – besting the mark of 16 set by former All-American and USA Softball Elite Team member Alana Addison.

Gomez ended the season with a .364 batting average and led the Sun Belt in home runs, RBI (55) and total bases (117). She had two six-RBI performances to her credit and had a slugging percentage higher than that of the single-season mark set by McMurtry last season.

Gomez's first two collegiate at bats were home runs – the first of which was a grand slam in the very first time she ever stepped up to the plate as a collegian. She ended her first day as a Ragin' Cajun with five RBI.

This season marked the third straight season that UL Lafayette took the Freshman of the Year honors. Jill Robertson won in 2001 while Mitchell was the 2002 top freshman.

Mitchell, the Cajuns pitching staff ace, tossed her way to a 20-6 record this season for her second straight 20-win season. The Pasadena, Texas, native had three no-hitters (one of which was a perfect game) and also had four complete-game one-hitters.

Mitchell tossed back-to-back one-hitters of Top 20 teams and was the pitcher of record in the Cajuns 2-0 win over then-No. 16 Alabama.

The right-handed hurler also struck out a career personal best 217 batters this season over 166 1/3 innings – tops among the SBC pitchers. She currently needs just 39 strikeouts to tie the school single-season record of 256 strikeouts held by Cheryl Longeway and set in 1995.

Mitchell's selection as top pitcher marked the fourth straight season that a Louisiana-Lafayette pitcher was the top one in the SBC. UL Lafayette has won the Pitcher of the Year award each year in the history of the league.

Bryant hit eight home runs and drove in 30 runs in her freshman campaign. The Beaumont, Texas, native also homered in her first two collegiate at bats and has made the transition from being a sub at the start of the 2003 season to a regular on the diamond.

Lapeyrouse, a four-year letterwinner and native of Lafayette, ended the 2003 regular season perfect in the field of play. Lapeyrouse went the entire 2003 season without committing an error at first base – a span of 280 chances.

This was Lapeyrouse's third time being a member of the All-SBCC squad.

George hit five home runs this season and was a .279 hitter. The Lafayette native drove in 21 runs and did not commit an error in 42 chances while playing out the year in left field.

Perhaps the most surprising storyline of the entire banquet was the omission of arguably the best defensive shortstop in the Sun Belt – Jill Robertson.

Robertson, one of the hardest-working individuals in the game, who had the fewest errors and the best fielding percentage among all SBC shortstops was left off of the team. The Acadiana High product had 10 home runs – her personal single-season best.

UL Lafayette claimed its third straight Sun Belt Conference regular season championship with a SBC mark of 13-3. The Cajuns remain the only champion that the Sun Belt Conference softball league has ever known.

The Cajuns will begin defense of its three straight SBC Tournament titles and go for a fourth straight on Thursday at 4 p.m. when they take on the winner of Western Kentucky and New Mexico State in the final contest of the quarterfinals at the WKU Softball Field.

2003 All-Sun Belt Conference Softball Team
(as voted by the league's head coaches)

1st Team
P - Brooke Mitchell, So., Louisiana-Lafayette
P - Amanda Nealer, So., Florida International
C - Christine Stephens, Sr., New Mexico State
1B - Cindy Turek, Jr., Florida International
2B - Brittany Bryant, Fr., Louisiana-Lafayette
SS - Cortney Mitchell, Jr., Middle Tennessee
3B - Becky McMurtry, Sr., Louisiana-Lafayette
OF - Nicole Dubovik, Sr., Florida International
OF - Riley Garcia, Jr., Western Kentucky
OF - Danyele Gomez, Fr., Louisiana-Lafayette
DP - Kristen Perry, Jr., Florida International

2nd Team
P - Nicole Barrett, Fr., Florida International
P - Stayc Preator, Sr., Middle Tennessee
C - Marleah Stapf, So., Florida International
1B - Summar Lapeyrouse, Sr., Louisiana-Lafayette
2B - Lindsay Tippings, So., Florida International
SS - Stephanie Wolter, Sr., Florida International
3B - Jennifer Owens, Jr., Florida International
OF - Erica Buhl, Sr., Middle Tennessee
OF - Crystal George, So., Louisiana-Lafayette
OF - Renita Pennington, So., Western Kentucky
DP - Allison Silver, Jr., Western Kentucky

Player of the Year - Becky McMurtry, Sr., 3B, Louisiana-Lafayette
Pitcher of the Year - Brooke Mitchell, So., Louisiana-Lafayette Freshman of the Year - Danyele Gomez, OF, Louisiana-Lafayette
Newcomer of the Year - Cortney Mitchell, SS, Middle Tennessee Coach of the Year - Kim Gwydir, Florida International

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

McMurtry, Mitchell and Gomez Tabbed Sun Belt's Top Talent

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