University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Gardner-Webb
Cajuns Unleash Offensive Arsenal On Opening Day
2/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2004
The ninth-ranked Cajuns (2-0) posted an 8-4 win over Kentucky (2-1) in the season opener and came back later in the afternoon and routed Gardner-Webb (0-2) 18-4 to wrap up play on day one of the tournament.
Louisiana-Lafayette will face Georgia Tech at 1 p.m., before closing out tournament play with host-ULM at 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Against UK, the
Cajuns got a solid pitching performance from junior
Brooke Mitchell (1-0) who went six innings and struck
out 12 batters scattering seven hits.
At the plate, Freshman Lacey Bertucci continued the trend of “first at bats” for freshmen when she went yard in her first plate appearance in the top of the second. Bertucci ended the game 2-of-3 with a home run and two runs scored.
Brittany Bryant and Crystal George each led the way with two RBI. Bryant was 1-for-2 with a two-run home run to right field in the fifth inning.
The Cajuns spotted UK an early 1-0 lead. The Wildcats pushed across a run in the bottom half of the first when pitcher Amanda Kendall lifted a two-out RBI single into shallow left field scoring Rachel Friberg.
The lead was short-lived for the upstart Wildcat squad.
UL Lafayette
quickly responded in its next at bat getting a one-out
home run from Bertucci (right) to draw even.
The Cajuns weren't done there. Ashley Evans brought home Bryant, who drew a walk after Bertucci's homer, with a double deep into the right center field gap to give Louisiana-Lafayette the lead 2-1.
Evans would then move to third on a passed ball and later scored when George deposited a single into left field to give the Cajuns a 3-1 lead.
Louisiana-Lafayette put the game away with a three spot in the fourth inning to stretch its lead to 6-1.
Bryant's
fifth-inning blast increased the margin to 8-1.
Mitchell kept the Wildcats in check holding them to just four hits after the first inning.
Amber Janneck disrupted Mitchell's rhythm with a home run in the fifth. She responded by striking out the side in the sixth inning.
The Wildcats added two runs in the bottom of the seventh to close the gap to 8-4. The runs came off of Afton Thoms and were both unearned.
In the nightcap, the Cajuns exploded for 10 runs in the top of the seventh to break open a four-run contest en route to the 18-4 victory over Gardner-Webb.
GWU pitchers struggled to find the strike zone early on and ended the game walking a total of 13 Cajun batters.
Freshman pitcher
Holly Tankersley (1-0) had a solid outing in her
collegiate debut allowing just four hits over six
innings while fanning six batters. The Bulldogs got four
runs, but two were unearned.
West Monroe native Ashley Evans went 2-for-5 with her first career home run and scored three runs.
GWU starter Stephanie Taylor began the game by hitting Tiffany Hebert and Hillary Guidry and then issued a walk to Danyele Gomez to load the bases.
Though the Bulldogs and Taylor worked their way out of the jam by stranding all three Cajun runners, their shortcomings would come back to haunt them later on.
In the second, Taylor led off the inning issuing a walk to Tankersley. Evans then followed with an infield single. After a fielder's choice grounder to shortstop by George, Hebert walked to load the bases.
Guidry
(right) made Taylor
pay, and atoned for the Cajuns first-inning bases-loaded
blunder, when she ripped a double through the left side
of the infield for a 2-0 lead.
The Cajuns added two more runs in the inning. Hebert stole home on an attempted pickoff of Guidry at second. Guidry later scored when GWU first baseman Jordyn Hill dropped a throw from third base with two outs allowing Joy Webre to reach base and Guidry to score.
UL Lafayette added three more in the third inning to blow open the game.
Bryant and
Tankersley each walked, setting the stage for Evans'
first career home run. Evans (right) crushed the first-pitch
delivery from Taylor and sent it over the left field
fence increasing the lead to 7-0.
GWU pulled Taylor in favor of Stacie Reichert who cooled off the Cajuns bats over the next four innings surrendering just one run on two hits.
The Bulldogs scratched for three runs in the bottom half of the third, aided by two errors and a wild pitch.
GWU lifted Reichert in the seventh, trailing 8-4, opting for Andrea Lewis. The plan backfired as like Taylor she couldn't find the strike zone.
Lewis could get only one out, walked five batters and gave up seven runs on seven hits. Reichert had walked just two batters through the previous four innings.
The Cajuns took advantage splurging for 10 more runs.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
