LAFAYETTE – Tara Hamilton's first
career home run provided the ninth-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball
team with the runs it needed to post a 3-0 season-opening
victory over Ole Miss here in game 5 of the 2nd Annual
Louisiana's Mardi Gras Classic.
Hamilton's looping fly ball that
crossed over the left center field fence ended a pitcher's
duel between Louisiana-Lafayette's Brooke Mitchell and Ole
Miss starter Dana Brill which saw both team scoreless going
into the seventh inning.
Joy Webre led off the Cajuns' half of
the seventh inning with a single into shallow center field.
Webre's leadoff hit was immediately followed by a double
from Brittany Bryant deep into the left field corner that
gave the Cajuns two baserunners after netting only four
through the first six innings.
Hamilton, a sophomore transfer from
Wisconsin, stepped up with the key hit the Ragin' Cajuns
needed to fight off the pesky Rebels. The home run was the
first of her career – both at UL Lafayette and Wisconsin –
and carried the Cajuns to a season-opening victory for the
fourth straight season.
Mitchell, a 2004 NFCA First Team
All-American with 524 strikeouts in 2004, was in a groove as
she fanned 14 Ole Miss batters and surrendered just three
hits in seven innings of work. The strikeout total moved her
to 981 for her career – 19 strikeouts away from the magical
1,000th strikeout of her magnificent career.
Brittany Bryant and Lacey Bertucci
each had a team-high two base hits for the Cajuns.
Hamilton's blast made up for a series
of misses over the previous six innings for
Louisiana-Lafayette which hit into four double plays for the
game.
Ole Miss never posed a threat to
Mitchell and the Cajuns. The first eight outs recorded,
aside from DeDe Justice leaving early at first base in the
first inning, by Louisiana-Lafayette were via Mitchell
strikeouts.
The Rebels only threat came in the
second inning. Ole Miss loaded the bases as Mandy Ott was
hit by a pitch and then Mitchell issued back-to-back two-out
walks to Chloe Kloezeman and Jordan Chitwood advancing Ott
to third base – the only time the Rebels crossed second base
the entire contest. Mitchell ended the scoring opportunity
when she struck out pinch hitter Lynette Karp to end the
inning.
Louisiana-Lafayette improved to 22-3
all-time in season openers and 4-1 under co-head coaches
Stefni and Michael Lotief.
The Ragin' Cajuns moved to 1-0 in the
Mardi Gras Classic and made the quick turnaround to face
in-state rival Northwestern State at 10:05 p.m. in Friday's
finale.
Ole Miss fell to 1-1 with the loss and
is finished with play on Friday. The Rebels return to action
in Saturday's opener against Prairie View at 9 a.m.
