University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Weekly Notebook: 2005 Season Begins Friday as Cajuns Host Mardi Gras Classic
2/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
The 7th-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team begins its 2005 regular season this weekend as the Ragin' Cajuns of co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief host the 2nd Annual Mardi Gras Softball Classic at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park Friday-Sunday, Feb. 4-6, 2005.
The tournament field includes: SEC-member Ole Miss, Southland Conference members McNeese State, Northwestern State and Sam Houston State along with Prairie View A&M and Louisiana-Lafayette. Each team will play five games in a round-robin format beginning at 9 a.m., on Friday, Feb. 4.
The tournament marks the season opener for the Ragin' Cajuns who are beginning the 25th season in program history (1981-2005) and the fifth (2001-2005) under the Lotief's. Louisiana-Lafayette's official season opener is set for 6 p.m., on Friday, Feb. 4 against Ole Miss and will be immediately followed by a contest with in-state rival Northwestern State at 8:15 p.m.
On Saturday, Louisiana-Lafayette will face Prairie View at 1:30 p.m., and then Ole Miss at 6 p.m. The Cajuns complete tournament play on Sunday at 2:30 p.m., against Sam Houston State.
THIS WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE (Louisiana-Lafayette games only)...
2ND ANNUAL LOUISIANA'S MARDI GRAS
CLASSICS
Friday-Sunday, Feb. 4-6, 2005
Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park - Lafayette, La.
Friday, Feb. 4, 2005
6 p.m. - Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Ole Miss
8:15 - Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Northwestern State
Saturday, Feb. 5, 2005
1:30 p.m. - Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Prairie View
6 p.m. - Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Ole Miss
Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005
2:30 p.m. - Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Sam Houston State
ON DECK…
The Cajuns season will resume next weekend as the season-opening homestand continues Friday-Sunday, Feb. 11-13 at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park with the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational. Louisiana-Lafayette will host McNeese State and Mississippi State in the four-game weekend set.
2nd Annual Louisiana's Mardi Gras Classic Schedule of Games
Results will be posted on the tournament's web site at:
http://www.ragincajuns.com/softball/Stories/2005/mardigrasclassic.htmLIVE STATS can be accessed via the world wide web at:
http://www.louisiana.edu/softballFriday, Feb. 4, 2005
9 a.m. – McNeese State vs. Prairie View
11:15 a.m. – Sam Houston State vs. Ole Miss
1:30 p.m. – Northwestern State vs. McNeese State
3:45 p.m. – Sam Houston State vs. Prairie View
6 p.m. – Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Ole Miss
8:15 p.m. – Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Northwestern State
Saturday, Feb. 5, 2005
9 a.m. – Ole Miss vs. Prairie View
11:15 a.m. – Sam Houston State vs. McNeese State
1:30 p.m. – Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Prairie View
3:45 p.m. – McNeese State vs. Northwestern State
6 p.m. – Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Ole Miss
8:15 p.m. – Sam Houston State vs. Northwestern State
Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005
10 a.m. – McNeese State vs. Ole Miss
12:15 p.m. – Northwestern State vs. Prairie View
2:30 p.m. – Sam Houston State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
SEASON OPENER NOTABLES…
<The Cajuns are 21-3 all-time in season openers (3-1 under the Lotief's).
<Last time the season began at home – 2003 season in a doubleheader against Louisiana Tech.
<Second straight season that the Cajuns opener involves an SEC team (Ole Miss). Last season (2004), the Cajuns squared off against Kentucky on Feb. 7 at the ULM Mardi Grass Classic.
STARTING OFF IN THE TOP 10…
For the second straight season, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team will begin the regular season ranked in the Top 10 of the national polls.
Louisiana-Lafayette, the four-time defending Sun Belt Conference champion with All-American ace Brooke Mitchell returning in the pitching circle, will enter the 2005 season ranked No. 7 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball preseason collegiate poll – the program's highest preseason ranking under the direction co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief.
This season's ranking is the highest for the program in the poll which debuted in February 2003. Last season, the Cajuns debuted at No. 9.
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 listed the Ragin' Cajuns at No. 9, giving the Cajuns a Top 10 preseason ranking in both of the major softball polls.
SHE'S BACK…
All-American pitcher Brooke Mitchell (45-5, 0.82 ERA, 524 strikeouts in 2004) returns for her senior season in 2005.
She enters her senior season listed as one of the top players to watch during the 2005 NCAA Division I softball campaign.
Mitchell, who led the nation in victories (45) and shattered the Louisiana-Lafayette single-season and career strikeout marks with 524 strikeouts en route to first-team Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American honors, has been selected to the watch list for the fourth-annual USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award.
The Pasadena, Texas, native was a Top 10 finalist for the national award during the 2004 season, and is considered to be one of the Top 10 pitchers in the nation this season. Mitchell, the 2003 Sun Belt Conference and Louisiana Pitcher of the Year, was the only player from the Sun Belt named to the initial watch list.
Last season, Mitchell posted a 45-5 record - accounting for 75 percent of the Ragin' Cajuns 60 victories – and posted double-digit strikeouts in 29 outings on her way to the fourth-highest total in NCAA Division I history (524). The eight-time Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week, Mitchell also tossed five complete-game, no-hitters including one of Big 12-member Missouri, and had five complete-game one-hitters in 2004.
Mitchell enters the 2005 season 33 strikeouts shy of becoming the 28th player in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,000 career strikeouts – she currently has a Louisiana-Lafayette career-record 967. The senior is poised to become the first Ragin' Cajuns player to reach the milestone and would join the likes of Courtney Blades, Britni Sneed, Sarah Dawson, Jocelyn Forest, Keira Goerl, Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch as members of softball's elusive club.
THE REST OF THE TEAM IS BACK TOO…
How many teams around the nation can claim that their entire roster from the previous season is back in uniform this season? Not many, but Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns can lay claim to that distinction.
Co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief's 2005 Ragin' Cajuns softball squad returns 14 of 16 players which saw action in 2004, a total which includes eight out of a possible nine position starters plus their ace pitcher - this from a team that won a school-record 60 games during the 2004 season and clubbed a school-record 88 home runs.
The only missing pieces that would have kept the entire 2004 team intact are Holly Tankersley (being redshirted in 2005) and Christine Collins (left for personal reasons). Tankersley, who set a school record with 21 home runs last season, will be the more noticeable of the two losses.
Louisiana-Lafayette returns 66 of its school-record 88 homers from a year ago, 74 of 89 doubles and 310 of its 379 runs scored.
Add in a crew of eight quality newcomers and the 2005 Ragin' Cajuns softball roster includes 22 names and faces.
STARTERS RETURNING:
P - Brooke Mitchell
C - Joy Webre
1B - Lacey Bertucci/Ashley Evans
2B - Brittany Bryant
SS - Tiffany Hebert
3B - Ashley Evans/Danyele Gomez
LF - Crystal George
CF - Hillary Guidry/Jill Robertson
RF - Danyele Gomez
HOMETOWN HERO BACK FOR A FINAL HURRAH…
After sitting out the 2004 season with a torn ACL, redshirt senior Jill Robertson is back in a Cajuns uniform for the 2005 season.
Robertson, a two-time All-Sun Belt standout, will only make an already potent offense stronger. Before last season's season-ending mishap, the Lafayette native had back-to-back seasons of double digit home runs and was always good for 50-plus runs scored.
Robertson, a two-year starter at second base and one-year starter at shortstop, will likely be tried in the outfield this season. The coaching staff has her penciled in with Hillary Guidry in the center field slot.
WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY...
The Ragin' Cajuns coaching staff has a new addition for the 2005 season - former Carencro High School star and Alabama standout catcher Lacy Prejean joined the Lotief's staff in September 2004.
"We needed to add a full-time coach with College World Series experience to help us with the growing demands of our program," Stefni Lotief said. "She knows what it takes to win championships and displays the same energy, passion, enthusiasm, intensity and work-ethic, while coaching, that she did as a player."
Prejean, who earned a bachelor's degree in business from Alabama in May of 2003, was an all-SEC performer all four seasons with the Crimson Tide. She started in all but seven games during her career.
She was the starting catcher for UA and led them to the Women's College World Series her freshman year (2000) and was there again in 2003, the same year the Ragin Cajuns softball team made its fourth appearance.
During her senior season she posted a career-best for homeruns (10), doubles (10), RBI (35) and hits (35). She hit an impressive .349 with five homeruns and 21 RBI during SEC play and was rewarded with First Team All-SEC honors.
The 2000 SEC Freshman of the Year, Prejean was invited to participate in the 2002 USA National Team Camp following her junior season.
Prejean has been instrumental in directing and implementing the Ragin' Cajuns Softball Camps – she created the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday camps which were held this past fall.
"Lafayette is my home," Prejean said. "This is where I want to be and coaching is what I want to do. It is a dream come true to be able to start my college coaching career with one of the top teams in the country and to be able to learn the coaching aspects of the game from the best."
MILESTONE WATCH…
The entire Ragin' Cajuns faithful should be on the lookout this weekend for an historic milestone which may happen during the 2nd Annual Mardi Gras Classic softball tournament.
Brooke Mitchell, the Cajuns senior ace hurler, enters the 2005 season needing just 33 strikeouts to become the 28th player in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,000 career strikeouts.
She would become the first Ragin' Cajuns player to reach the milestone and would join the likes of Courtney Blades, Britni Sneed, Sarah Dawson, Jocelyn Forest, Keira Goerl, Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch as members of softball's elusive club.
The Cajuns play their first 14 games at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park, so there's a possiblity that Brooke can get career strikeout No. 1,000 at home in front of the Cajuns softball faithful.
COUNTDOWN TO 1,000 CAREER
STRIKEOUTS
Brooke Mitchell will start
the 2005 season with 967 career strikeouts.
MOVING UP THE CAREER VICTORIES LIST…
Brooke Mitchell is just 14 wins shy of becoming the Ragin' Cajuns Softball program's all-time winningest pitcher.
When she reaches her 100th career victory (win No. 9 of the 2005 season), Brooke will join Kyla Hall as the only pitchers in program history to reach the milestone.
Louisiana-Lafayette Career Victories
Top 5
1. 104 Kyla Hall (1991-94)
2. 91 Brooke Mitchell (2002-present)
3. 84 Melissa Coronado (1999-02)
4. 78 Stefni Whitton (1987-90)
5. 76 Jennifer Clendenin (1993-97)
WHO'S TURN IS IT THIS YEAR???
Danyele Gomez did it in 2003. Lacey Bertucci in 2004. The question is who will be the next Ragin' Cajuns freshman hitter to homer in her first collegiate at bat.
Here's a list of the possible candidates: Kelsey Cammarata, Deserea Griffin, Karli Hubbard, Jessica Lemoine, Codi Runyan and Heather Warren.
BACK TO WHERE SHE STARTED…
With the absence of Holly Tankersley, junior Danyele Gomez is returning back to the outfield after spending the 2004 season at third base.
Gomez spent her freshman season in right field and proceeded to hit a then-school record 20 home runs. The Metairie native will once again be roaming out in right field as she is going to take Tankersley's place.
POSITION-BY-POSITION BREAKDOWN…
Catcher – Senior Joy Webre is back for a fourth season as the starter. Freshman Jessica Lemoine will serve as the understudy.
First Base - Both Lacey Bertucci and Ashley Evans have game experience at first base and should see action there. Heather Warren, a freshman from Diboll, Texas, has worked extensively at first base, too.
Second Base - Brittany Bryant is a two-year starter at second base and should be your opening day starter; also working at second base is Karli Hubbard (freshman, Comeaux High School, Lafayette, La.) and Tara Hamilton (sophomore, transfer from Wisconsin who started at first base and saw time at second for the Badgers).
Shortstop - Tiffany Hebert is the returning starter at shortstop. Also working at shortstop is Codi Runyan (freshman from Port Barre).
Third Base - Ashley Evans and Tara Hamilton (transfer from Wisconsin) are the early frontrunners to replace Danyele Gomez who returned to the outfield. This will mark the second straight season that the Ragin' Cajuns will have a new face on the “hot corner” of the infield.
Left Field - Crystal George is a three-year starter and can be expected to be seen roaming the left field territory.
Center Field - Jill Robertson was preparing to see action in center field before suffering a season-ending injury sidelined her for the 2004 season. Robertson is switching to the outfield after spending the first three seasons of her career in the middle infield. Hillary Guidry was last season's starter in center field, but has company for the 2005 season. Guidry will also share time in left field with George.
Right Field - Danyele Gomez returns to the position where she earned All-American status.
HOME, SWEET HOME…
There's no doubt that the Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park has been the perfect home for Louisiana-Lafayette softball.
Now in its 20th season of service to the nationally recognized program, UL Lafayette has posted a 432-72 (.857) record all-time at the park.
Under co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief, the Ragin' Cajuns have posted a 96-11 mark (.897) in the friendly confines – reaching 20-plus victories in each of the past four seasons.
Dating back to 1999, Louisiana-Lafayette has gone 148-15 at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park for a .908 winning percentage.
Louisiana-Lafayette's 22 home wins last season marked the sixth straight season that the Cajuns posted 20 or more home wins.
Louisiana-Lafayette has never had a losing season at home in 20 seasons.
CAJUNS PICKED AS SUN BELT FAVORITES ONCE MORE…
With one of the best pitchers in the country returning, Louisiana-Lafayette was a unanimous pick to win the Sun Belt Conference softball title according to a coach's poll, it was announced on Wednesday.
The Cajuns, who came within one win of making their second straight trip to the Women's College World Series last year, received all six first-place votes from the Sun Belt softball head coaches.
The reason was pretty simple: Not only will the Cajun return a powerful offense, but they also bring back two-time Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Brooke Mitchell.
Mitchell, a first-team All-American last year, went an astounding 45-5 with a 0.82 earned run average last season. Backing up Mitchell will be a potentially explosive lineup.
Position players returning include 2003 All-American Danyele Gomez (13 home runs, 43 RBIs last year) and Jill Robertson, a two-time All-Sun Belt standout who missed last season with a knee injury.
SUN BELT CONFERENCE SOFTBALL
COACHES POLL
As voted on by the league's
6 head coaches
** First-place votes in parentheses
Team Pts.
1. Louisiana-Lafayette (6) 36
2. Florida International 25
3. Middle Tennessee 24
4. North Texas 15
5. New Mexico State 14
6. Western Kentucky 12
THE SUN BELT'S DYNASTY…
Like the Chicago Bulls of the early and late 1990s or Tennessee and Connecticut in women's basketball, Louisiana-Lafayette is quickly becoming the dynasty of the Sun Belt Conference's softball league.
Since the league began play in 2001, the Ragin' Cajuns have won the regular season and tournament titles each year – the only champion that the league has ever known.
Louisiana-Lafayette is 65-5 (.929) all-time in Sun Belt play and has posted a 16-0 record in the league's postseason tournament.
The Ragin' Cajuns have participated in 17 Sun Belt series since joining the league and have never lost one. The only time UL Lafayette failed to win a series was when the Cajuns split a four-game set at FIU during the 2003 season.
Last season, the Cajuns became the first team in league history to march through the regular season schedule undefeated. Louisiana-Lafayette finished the 2004 SBC slate at 18-0.
The Ragin' Cajuns will enter the 2005 season riding a 21-game regular season winning streak in Sun Belt games – the last conference loss coming on May 3, 2003 at Western Kentucky (L, 2-3 in 8 innings).
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE YEAR-BY-YEAR
SUN BELT RECORDS
2001 19-1
2002 15-1
2003 13-3
2004 18-0
Overall 65-5
ENJOYING THE COMFORTS OF HOME…
Louisiana-Lafayette will open its 2005 season with three straight weekend tournaments at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park. The Cajuns host the 2nd Annual Mardi Gras Classic Feb. 4-6, Ragin' Cajuns Invitational Feb. 11-13 and the 19th Annual Louisiana Classics Feb. 18-20.
Once all is said and done, the Cajuns will compete in a total of 34 games at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park this season – a school-record. The Cajuns have 21 playing dates scheduled for Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park, highlighted by a three-game weekend series against perennial powerhouse Arizona March 25-27.
A “SPECIAL” SENIOR CLASS…
The 2005 senior class – Crystal George, Tiffany Hebert, Brooke Mitchell, Jill Robertson and Joy Webre – will always have a special place in the hearts of co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief.
Four of the five (George, Hebert, Mitchell and Webre) were each a part of the Lotief's first recruiting class after the completion of the 2001 season. They will be a part of the first senior class to finish four seasons under the Lotief's.
Robertson wasn't a part of the 2002 class, but was recruited by the Lotief's prior to their debut season in 2001.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS - YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS ONE…
Of all the games to be played at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park this season, none will be more special than an Easter Weekend series with national power Arizona March 25-27.
The Wildcats, preseason ranked No. 2, and the Ragin' Cajuns will square off in a three-game series that should draw plenty of spectators to the Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park.
Last season, at the NCAA Regional in Tucson, Ariz., Louisiana-Lafayette posted a 5-0 victory in the semifinals of the tournament that eliminated Arizona from the Women's College World Series for the first time since the 1987 season snapping a string of 16 consecutive appearances by the Wildcats at the WCWS.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE VS. ARIZONA
SERIES
Friday, March 25 6 p.m.
Saturday, March 26 6 p.m.
Sunday, March 27 11 a.m.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
