University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Pinch-Hit Double Helps OU Top Cajuns in Winner's Bracket Final
5/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
NORMAN,
Okla. –
Alison
Horne's two-out, pinch-hit double in the top of the sixth
inning helped Oklahoma break a 3-3 tie and sent the host-Sooners
to a 6-3 victory over No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette here
Saturday afternoon in NCAA Regional No. 14 play at the OU
Softball Complex
The Ragin' Cajuns (51-9) had tied the contest on a three-run home run by Jill Robertson in the bottom of the fifth inning. But, Tiffany Hebert's second error of the game with one out in the sixth inning kept the inning alive for OU and Horne capitalized.
With the loss Louisiana-Lafayette drops into the elimination bracket of NCAA Regional No. 14 and will face either Oregon or Wichita State in a 6:30 p.m. (CDT) elimination game. OU advanced to Sunday's championship round and will need to be beaten twice by the survivor of the elimination bracket.
"It was a hard fought game,” said Louisiana-Lafayette co-head coach Stefni Lotief. “The momentum swung back and forth. We did the best we could given the environment and the situation we were faced with."
Heather Bobbitt's undefeated run in the 2005 season came to an end as she suffered her first loss to fall to 18-1. Bobbitt surrendered six runs (four earned) on seven hits. The sophomore hurler surrendered only four hits in the final six innings.
Robertson provided the offense for the Cajuns with her fifth home run of the season.
"We fought every pitch,” Robertson said. “It's a tough loss for all of us because we wanted this really bad, but we're going to come back and fight in the next game."
OU scored first loading the bases with no outs. Norelle Dickson dumped a single into left field and Kristin Vesely beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt for the Sooners' second straight hit to start the game. Bobbitt walked Christina Enea to load the bases.
Heather Scaglione grounded out to shortstop for an RBI groundout that scored Dickson. Jessica Leslie followed with a bloop single into shallow right field that scored Vesely for a 2-0 lead. The lead grew to 3-0 when Jamie Fox laid down a sacrifice bunt to squeeze home Enea.
Bobbitt worked her way out of the early jam by getting OU starting pitcher Kami Keiter to ground out to shortstop for the third out.
Bobbitt, making her first-ever NCAA Regionals start, found her groove after the first inning. The Vidor, Texas, native allowed only two hits and retired the side in order in the second and fourth innings to keep her teammates within striking distance.
Keiter, who ended the contest with season-high five walks, issued back-to-back two-out walks to Codi Ruyan and Hebert in the bottom of the fifth inning. Robertson delivered for the Cajuns in the next at bat when she got under a Keiter delivery and drove a liner over the wall in left center field to knot the score at 3-3.
Enea led off the Sooners' sixth inning with a routine grounder over to second base that Brittany Bryant cleanly fielded for the first out. Scaglione sent a high bouncer toward Hebert at third base, however the senior third baseman had the ball bounce out of her glove allowing Scaglione to reach on the error and advance to second base.
Bobbitt got Leslie to fly out to left field for the second out. Fox worked the count full and earned a walk to buy time Horne who pinch hit for Keiter. Horne rifled a line drive into the left center field gap that Robertson couldn't reach in time allowing pinch runner Amber Spaulding and Fox to score the go-ahead runs.
Louisiana-Lafayette was able to garner two baserunners with no outs in the bottom half of the sixth inning. The most bizarre play of the tournament occurred with one out and power hitter Lacey Bertucci at the plate.
Bertucci took a swing at a Keiter offering and the momentum of the swing took her out of the batter's box and into the path of a Scaglione throwback that hit her in the helmet. Bertucci was ruled out on batter's interference and any momentum to mount a rally had been stopped.
Tayl'r Hollis added an insurance run for Keiter in the seventh inning when she led off with a solo home run to straightaway center field to make it 6-3.
Keiter gave up a leadoff double to Codi Runyan, who accounted for two of the Ragin' Cajuns three base hits, but struck out the next three batters in order to finish off her 31st victory of the season and send the Sooners to the championship game of the NCAA Regional No. 14. Kieter finished the contest with 12 strikeouts.
Louisiana-Lafayette had its 11-game winning streak snapped and fell to 1-2 all-time in NCAA Regional play against Oklahoma. For the second straight season, the Cajuns fall into the loser's bracket of NCAA Regional play and will now need three more victories to reach the Super Regional round next weekend.
"This is a well-conditioned team,” Lotief said. “We're used to playing a lot of games. It is hot, but we're used to the heat.
“It's do-or-die for us, and you can't underestimate what you're going to come out and do when your back is against the wall,” Lotief added. “This team has proven on countless occasions that when they're backed against a wall, they can make it happen."
The
Cajuns get a 2 ˝ hour break from action and will return to
the playing field at approximately 6:30 p.m. (CDT) against
the winner of the Wichita State-Oregon elimination game
which began at approximately 4:10 p.m. (CDT). The Ragin'
Cajuns will be bidding for their 12th appearance
on Championship Sunday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oklahoma............ 300 002 1 - 6 7 0 (49-15)
Louisiana-Lafayette. 000 030 0 - 3 3 2 (51-9)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Oklahoma - Keiter. Louisiana-Lafayette - Bobbitt.
Win-Keiter(31-6) Loss-Bobbitt(18-1) T-2:28 A-0
HR OU - Hollis.
HR UL - Robertson.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
