University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Nicholls State
Cajuns Score Early In Completing Sweep of Nicholls
3/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
LAFAYETTE – Six
runs in the game's first two innings propelled the
10th-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team to a
6-2 victory and the doubleheader sweep of Nicholls State
here Wednesday evening at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park.
Earlier in the day, the Cajuns collected a 2-0 win behind a 14-strikeout performance from junior ace hurler Brooke Mitchell in the twinbill opener.
Holly Tankersely and Danyele Gomez each had two hits to pace the eight-hit performance by the Cajuns' offense in the nightcap.
The win was the Cajuns 23rd straight over Nicholls State dating back to the 1998 season and was the 30th of the season.
Mitchell fanned 11 Colonel hitters for her second double-digit strikeout game of the doubleheader and 19th of the season. Combined with the 14 strikeouts from game one, Mitchell ended the day with 25 strikeouts in 14 innings of action.
Mitchell notched
her eighth straight double-digit strikeout game against
the Colonels and has now fanned 101 NSU batters in nine
career appearances and 59 1/3 innings.
The victory was Mitchell's 70th of her career and improved her to 24-3 on the season making her two wins shy of tying her personal single-season best of 26 set last season.
The Cajuns (30-4) pushed across three runs in the first inning on three hits – all with two outs.
Gomez and Joy Webre each drew two-out walks from NSU starter Nichole Wagner. Wagner then gave up an RBI single to Brittany Bryant.
The Cajuns got an extra run out of the play when left fielder Kristi Blanchard passed up the ball allowing it to roll to the warning track. The mishap allowed Gomez to round third for a 2-0 lead and Bryant wound up on third base.
On the very next at bat, Lacey Bertucci scooted a ball up the middle of the infield for an RBI single that scored Bryant for a 3-0 advantage.
Louisiana-Lafayette chased Wagner out of the game in the second inning with three more runs. Tankersley drove in the fourth run of the game when she plated Tiffany Hebert on an RBI single up the middle.
After an illegal
pitch brought home pinch runner Michelle Bergeaux for a
5-0 lead, Gomez ripped a towering double that landed at
the base of the center field wall to score Tankersley.
The Colonels (14-15) chipped away with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
Sarah Eads led Nicholls in hits for the second straight game as she picked up two hits (2-for-3) to end the doubleheader 5-for-8 at the plate.
Wagner took the loss and fell to 4-8 on the season. She surrendered six runs (five earned) in 1 1/3 innings. Christina Hanson and Dione Meier combined for 4 2/3 innings of four-hit relief.
The Cajuns got runs from six different players and spread out the RBI with four different players contributing.
Louisiana-Lafayette takes the weekend off and returns to action next Wednesday in a 5 p.m. doubleheader at Northwestern State in Natchitoches.
Louisiana-Lafayette 6, Nicholls State 2
(Mar 24, 2004 at Lafayette, La.) (Game 2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nicholls State...... 000 110 0 - 2 6 1 (14-15)
Louisiana-Lafayette. 330 000 X - 6 8 0 (30-4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Nicholls State - Wagner; Hanson(2); Meier(4).
Louisiana-Lafayette - Mitchell.
Win-Mitchell(24-3) Loss-Wagner(4-8) T-1:52 A-628
HR NICH - Sasser.
GAME ONE
The 10th-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team took advantage of its opportunities, pushing across two runs with the two hits it collected in a 2-0 win over Nicholls State here Wednesday evening in the first game of a doubleheader at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park.
Junior ace hurler
Brooke Mitchell struck out 14 and scattered six hits to
make the lead stand as the Cajuns collected their 22nd
straight victory over the Colonels.
Lacey Bertucci lifted a sacrifice fly into left field in the second inning to score Brittany Bryant with the winning run and freshman Holly Tankersley hit her 10th home run of the season in the sixth for an insurance run.
Nicholls State ace Dione Meier held the Cajuns to just two hits and struck out seven in suffering the hard-luck loss.
Sarah Eads (2-for-4) led the Colonels six-hit attack which came up empty against Mitchell who continued her dominance of NSU. In eight appearances versus Nicholls, Mitchell has now struck out 90 batters in 52 1/3 innings and surrendered just two earned runs.
The game featured
yet another Mitchell milestone as she notched her 300th
strikeout of the season with her sixth whiff of the
game. The Pasadena, Texas, native became the first
pitcher in program history to amass 300 strikeouts in a
single season.
The 14 strikeouts marked her 18th double-digit strikeout performance of the season and moved her to 308 for the season.
Louisiana-Lafayette pushed across the winning run in the bottom half of the second. Brittany Bryant led off the inning with a walk, one of three issued by Meier in the game. Bryant then moved to second base on a passed ball.
Crystal George then checked her swing, but the ball landed fair. Bryant moved over to third on the grounder.
Bertucci brought Bryant home on the next at bat when she lifted a fly out into left field for the sacrifice RBI.
The Cajuns added
an insurance run in the sixth when Tankersley drilled a
pitch over the center field wall.
Nicholls' best shot to score came in the fourth when the Colonels picked up two hits, but would leave runners on first and second when designated player Nichole Wagner struck out looking to end the at bat.
Louisiana-Lafayette 2, Nicholls State 0
(Mar 24, 2004 at Lafayette, La.) (Game 1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nicholls State...... 000 000 0 - 0 6 1 (14-14)
Louisiana-Lafayette. 010 001 X - 2 2 0 (29-4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Nicholls State - Meier. Louisiana-Lafayette -
Mitchell.
Win-Mitchell(23-3) Loss-Meier(10-7) T-1:53 A-0
HR UL - Tankersley.
-LOUISIANA'S RAGIN' CAJUNS-
