University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Northwestern
Mitchell Paces Cajuns Past Northwestern, Sets Up Rematch With Arizona
5/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Mitchell fanned 11 Wildcat hitters and scattered three hits as the ninth-ranked Ragin' Cajuns (58-7) stayed alive in the regional and advanced to a matchup with top-seeded Arizona (55-5) for the right to advance to Sunday's championship round.
Louisiana-Lafayette and Arizona were scheduled to take the field 35 minutes following the completion of the matchup with Northwestern (34-20).
The win was the Cajuns school-record 58th of the season and kept alive the goal of reaching the Women's College World Series for the second straight season and fifth time in program history.
Mitchell picked up her 43rd win of the campaign, 13th solo shutout and 29th double-digit strikeout game of the season. The 11 strikeouts advanced her school record to 511.
After Mitchell and Northwestern starter Eileen Canney worked spotless innings in the first and second frames the Cajuns were able to break through in their half of the third.
Hillary Guidry slapped an infield
single that was fielded by NU's Carri Leto but was
placed in a spot where no play was available. Tiffany Hebert laid down the sacrifice bunt down the first base
line that advanced Guidry over to second base.
Holly Tankersley took advantage when she chopped a single up the heart of the infield that paved the way for Guidry to round third base for what proved to be the winning run.
Mitchell (43-4) was granted more support in the fourth inning as Louisiana-Lafayette plated an extra two runs to create a 3-0 advantage.
UL Lafayette benefited from the leadoff hitter reaching base for the second straight inning. Brittany Bryant picked up her 41st walk of the season to lead off the inning.
Ashley Evans cashed in for the
Cajuns on the next at bat when she laced a triple over
the reach of NU leftfielder Jessica Miller who had
stretched out in an attempt to make a diving catch. The
ball rolled backed to the wall and bought enough time
for Bryant to race around the base path for the second
run of the contest.
Lacey Bertucci bounced a grounder to shortstop that allowed Evans to scamper down the third base line for an insurance run and a 3-0 edge.
The three runs were more than enough for Mitchell who allowed just one hit and one walk while facing just two over the minimum in the final three innings. Mitchell stranded eight Wildcat baserunners and struck out seven over the final three innings.
Louisiana-Lafayette picked up its second straight win while facing elimination and moved within one win of reaching the championship round of an NCAA Regional for the 11th time in 14 appearances.
Louisiana-Lafayette 3,
Northwestern (Ill.) 0
(May 22, 2004 at Tucson, Ariz.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------Northwestern
(Ill.). 000 000 0 - 0 3 0 (34-20)
Louisiana-Lafayette. 001 200 X - 3 4 1 (58-7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers:
Northwestern (Ill.) - Canney. Louisiana-Lafayette -
Mitchell.
Win-Mitchell(43-4) Loss-Canney(19-5) T-1:43 A-250
GAME NOTES:
*Cajuns collect school-record 58th win of the season.
Previous record of 57 wins was held by 1993 (57-7) and
1994 (57-5) teams. *Brooke Mitchell's 29th double-digit
strikeout game of the season and her 13th solo shutout.
*Cajuns second straight win while facing elimination.
*Ashley Evans' first career triple came in the two-run
fourth inning.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
