University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Stranded Baserunners Cost Cajuns In Loss to Nicholls State
2/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
LAFAYETTE – All weekend long the fifth-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team had struggled with stranding baserunners leaving as many as 21 stranded in one game on Friday.
On Saturday, it finally came back to haunt the hosts in game seven of the 19th Annual Louisiana Classics here at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park and cost the Ragin' Cajuns their first loss of the season.
No. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette (11-1) left nine runners on the basepaths in suffering a 1-0, eight-inning loss to Nicholls State (2-7) Saturday evening. The Colonels pushed across the winning run on a passed ball on a squeeze play in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Brooke Mitchell, aiming for 100th career victory, did her best allowing just two hits over 7 1/3 innings while striking out 11. However, the offense couldn't muster any attack hitting fly ball after fly ball.
Kat Harrell led off the eighth inning for the Colonels with a shallow hit that landed just inside the left field line and rolled into foul territory allowing Harrell to reach second base.
Pinch hitter Andrea Ground drew a walk and then Lindsey Yelverton lifted a fly ball into right field that advanced Harrell down to third base.
On the next at bat, a Mitchell pitch got past Joy Webre and rolled to the backstop. Webre couldn't pick the ball up in time to fire it to Mitchell and Harrell touched home plate with the game-winning run.
The Cajuns had their chance to win in it regulation in the top of the seventh inning. Back-to-back one-out singles from Tara Hamilton and Crystal George gave Louisiana-Lafayette two baserunners. Jill Robertson drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but Danyele Gomez popped up to Nicholls' second baseman Brandi Hahn to end the threat.
Nichole Wagner picked up the win for the Colonels going the distance and striking out six while scattering six hits.
Hamilton and George led the Cajuns with two hits apiece while Gomez had her career-best, 10-game hitting streak snapped.
The loss snapped Louisiana-Lafayette's home winning streak at 17 games and prevented the 2005 team from equaling the best undefeated start in school history (14-0 in 1993).
No. 5 Louisiana-Lafayette will be back in action on Sunday in an 11 a.m. game with Purdue. The game is a rematch of the Cajuns' 3-1 victory earlier Saturday and will be for the tournament championship (both teams enter with 3-1 tournament records).
LINE SCORE
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Nicholls State 1, Louisiana-Lafayette 0 (Feb 19, 2005 at
Lafayette, La.)
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Louisiana-Lafayette. 000 000 00 - 0 6 1 (11-1)
Nicholls State...... 000 000 01 - 1 2 1 (2-7)
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Pitchers: Louisiana-Lafayette - Mitchell. Nicholls State -
Wagner.
Win-Wagner(2-2) Loss-Mitchell(8-1) T-2:27
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
