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Cajuns Make
Quick Work of Mississippi Valley
No. 5
Louisiana-Lafayette touches MVSU for five runs in the first
inning en route to 8-0 mercy-rule win in five innings
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005
LAFAYETTE
– It only took one hour and 13 minutes for the fifth-ranked
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team to dispose of
Mississippi
Valley
as the hosts cruised to a relatively easy 8-0 win in five
innings.
A
five-run outburst in the first inning, aided by a bases
clearing single down the left field line from Joy Webre, was
more than enough to support Ashley Kirchberg's two-hit
shutout of the Devilettes.
Louisiana-Lafayette (10-0) notched single runs in the three
subsequent innings to enforce the mercy rule – a good thing
since the game started some two hours and 20 minutes later
than scheduled after the Cajuns-Nicholls State game went 10
innings and last over four hours.
Webre
was the Cajuns leading hitter going 2-for-2 with three RBI.
She hit an RBI double in the fourth inning which scored Codi Runyan for the eighth run of the contest.
Danyele Gomez broke through with her first home run of the season
when she went opposite field in the second inning, getting
the ball just inside the first-base foul line. The homer
extended Gomez's career-best hit streak to nine games.
Kirchberg struck out six MVSU hitters and gave up just two
hits over five innings of work. She was credited with her
first career Division I victory.
Lacey Bertucci and Brittany Bryant each went hitless in only one
at bat – both were lifted for substitutes in the bottom of
the second inning. As a result, both had their career-best
nine game hitting streaks halted.
The
inability of MVSU starter Jalana Brown to find the strike
zone led to the Cajuns loading the bases with no outs in the
first inning. Jill Roberston led off with a walk, stole
second and that was followed a Gomez walk and Bryant hit by
pitch. Webre got the Cajuns first hit of the game when she
laced a single into the left field corner. Webre's hit
initially scored Robertson and Gomez, but Bryant was able to
motor around third base on a fielding error by MVSU's
Valerie Nicholson.
A
sacrifice fly RBI by Ashley Evans scored Webre two batters
later to make it 4-0. The Cajuns pushed across one more when
Tara Hamilton, who drew a two-out walk, scored on a dropped
fly ball from Crystal George by MVSU center fielder Traci
Roper.
The win
extended the Ragin' Cajuns' home winning streak to 16 games
dating back to the 2004 season. It also extended the best
start under co-head coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief to
10-0 which is four wins shy of tying the 1993 team for the
best undefeated start in program history.
No. 5
Louisiana-Lafayette returns to action on Saturday at 1:30
p.m. as the host-Cajuns face Purdue (5-1) in a battle for
first place in the tournament. That game will be followed by
a rematch with Nicholls State at 4:30 p.m.
Louisiana-Lafayette 8,
Mississippi Valley 0 (Feb 18, 2005 at Lafayette, La.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisiana-Lafayette. 511 10 - 8 6 0
(10-0)
Mississippi Valley.. 000 00 - 0 2 4
(3-9)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Louisiana-Lafayette - Kirchberg. Mississippi
Valley - Brown.
Win-Kirchberg(1-0) Loss-Brown T-1:13
-- Ragin' Cajuns -- |
