University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
San Diego State
Mitchell Hurls No-Hitter As Cajuns Crush Aztecs 6-0 In NCAA Regional Opener
5/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Thursday, May 15, 2003
FULLERTON, Calif. – The 21st-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team couldn't have dreamed or asked for a better opening to action here at NCAA Regional No. 6 in its quest for a fourth Women's College World Series appearance.
Sophomore
ace pitcher and 2003 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the
Year Brooke Mitchell (left) tossed her fourth no-hitter
of the season, the first by a Cajuns pitcher in NCAA
Regional action, and the offense provided her with six
runs on three home runs as the fourth-seeded Ragin'
Cajuns (44-8) posted a 6-0 shellacking of fifth-seeded
San Diego State here Thursday morning at the Titan
Softball Complex on the campus of Cal State Fullerton.
Mitchell (23-6), who extended her streak of innings without an earned run allowed to 27 2/3 innings, was virtually untouchable to Aztec hitters as only two balls hit in play left the infield. She struck out six batters, walked none and faced only one batter over the minimum.
Mitchell's historic moment was saved on a diving catch by center fielder Tiffany Grayson in shallow left center field on a dying fly ball hit by SDSU cleanup hitter Janna Kovensky. Grayson's advanced a number of steps from her spot in center field and laid out for the catch and the final out of another masterpiece delivered by Mitchell.
"It was a great way to start off the tournament," said an elated Cajuns head coach Stefni Lotief. "Our kids came out ready to play, swung the bats real well, played sound defense and we had a sound pitching performance from Brooke."
With the win, Louisiana-Lafayette improved to 9-4 all-time in NCAA Regional openers and notched its seventh straight win and 29th in the last 32 games.
The Cajuns will now play in the opening round of the winner's bracket Friday at 1:30 p.m. (CDT) against the winner of No. 1 seed Cal State Fullerton (39-13) and No. 8 seed Rider University (24-23).
SDSU falls into the loser's bracket and will face the loser of CSF-Rider at 9 p.m. (CDT) Thursday evening in the tournament's first elimination contest.
The more than adequate six run offensive barrage was delivered off of the bats of UL Lafayette's Danyele Gomez, Becky McMurtry and Tiffany Grayson.
Gomez
(right) got the ball rolling for the Ragin' Cajuns with
a solo home run in the bottom of the first.
The Metairie native grabbed hold of a pitch high in the strike zone and gave it a ride over the left field wall for her Sun Belt- and team-best 19th home run of the season – the school's single-season record - and a 1-0 lead.
SDSU starting pitcher Celena Velasquez (15-8) settled down after Gomez's bomb and held the Cajuns in check over the next four-plus innings giving up just one hit – a single up the middle from Gomez in the fourth inning.
Velasquez kept the Aztecs in the game but Mitchell stymied the SDSU batters and kept the Cajuns lead safe.
UL Lafayette ended any doubts about the outcome of the contest with a huge five-run fifth inning which was made possible by the bats of McMurtry and Grayson. The Cajuns collected the runs on five hits after getting only two through the first five innings.
Junior shortstop Jill Robertson led off the inning with a line-drive single over the head of SDSU third baseman Kelcy Murphy and into left field.
McMurtry,
a two-time All-American and two-time Sun Belt Conference
Player of the Year, began the Cajuns pull-away efforts
when she crushed a pitch from Velasquez over the wall in
dead center field for a 3-0 lead.
It was McMurtry's 14th home run of the season and extended her hitting streak to 11 games.
After Gomez went down swinging on the next at bat, catcher Joy Webre reached on an infield single to shortstop. Webre was then relieved by pinch runner Tiffany Hebert on the basepath.
After freshman Brittany Bryant fouled out to the catcher, fellow rookie and Lafayette native Lauren Castle laid down a perfectly placed bunt single and easily beat out the throw to give the Cajuns runners on the corners.
On the next at bat Grayson put the game to rest with a three-run blast over the left field fence for a 6-0 lead.
The homer was Grayson's fifth of the season and her first since a solo shot hit in the Cajuns first game of a doubleheader with UL Monroe on April 2 – a span of 28 games.
Mitchell completed the Cajuns victory with a 1-2-3 seventh which included two strikeouts and the diving-stop by Grayson.
Mitchell collected her third straight win and lowered her season ERA to 0.82.
The Pasadena, Texas, increased her season strikeout total to 249 which is seven strikeouts shy of the all-time single-season mark of 256 set by Cheryl Longeway in 1995 and currently the second-highest single-season total in program history.
Velasquez, the Mountain West Conference Pitcher and Rookie of the Year, was tagged with the loss as she went six innings and allowed six runs (all earned) on seven hits while striking out five. For the freshman it was her second straight loss as she fell to 15-8 on the season.
The shutout was Mitchell's ninth solo shutout of the season and the Cajuns 25th as a team in 52 outings.
UL Lafayette improved to 41-2 this season when scoring first and Gomez's home run marked the 26th time this season that the Cajuns scored at least one run in the first inning of a game.
The three home runs hit increased the Cajuns season team total to 75 which is one shy of the school record 76 set just last season.
The shutout was the Cajuns first in NCAA Tournament play since May 19, 2001 when former pitcher Melissa Coronado shut down Arizona State in a 5-0 Cajuns win at the Baton Rouge Regional. It was the Cajuns eighth shutout in 30 regional games.
The Cajuns will continue play in the eight-team regional field Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the first round of the winner's bracket against the winner of Cal State Fullerton and Rider.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
