LAFAYETTE – The game might not have
seemed important when looking at the final score of 15-0.
But, the ninth-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball got
plenty of quality playing time for all of its newcomers in
posting a victory over out-manned Prairie View A&M here
Saturday afternoon at Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park in game
nine of the 2nd Annual Louisiana's Mardi Gras Classic.
A total of 18 players took to the
field for No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette (3-0) who posted four
extra-base hits in the first inning alone en route to the
easy triumph.
The Ragin' Cajuns had a chance to rest
ace hurler Brooke Mitchell (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 21K in 2005) for
tonight's matchup with Ole Miss. In her place, Ashley Kirchberg (2 IP, 1 H, 5 K) and Heather Bobbitt (3 IP, 2 H, 5
K) each saw quality innings in an early season game.
The duo of Kirchberg and Bobbitt
limited PV hitters to just three base hits with no single
runner advancing past second base – Louisiana-Lafayette has
now held an opponent to just one runner past second base in
the last two games.
Kirchberg and Bobbitt combined for 10
strikeouts and only faced four batters over the minimum.
Danyele Gomez and Lacey Bertucci led
the charge for the Cajuns. Each went 3-for-3 and combined
for six RBI. Bertucci continued her hot hitting which has
carried her to a 7-for-9 start (.778 batting average)
through three games on the young season.
The Cajuns went yard twice with Jill Robertson and Bertucci each picking up their first home runs
of the 2005 campaign. Combined with five doubles and a
Kelsey Cammarata triple Louisiana-Lafayette collected eight
extra-base hits. All but four of a possible 16 batters
picked up at least one base hit.
It didn't take long for
Louisiana-Lafayette to get on track. Robertson led off the
game with a solo home run which was followed by a Gomez
double. A one-out double by Brittany Bryant scored Gomez for
a 2-0 lead. Bryant moved over to third on a passed ball and
scored on a sacrifice fly from Tara Hamilton. Bertucci
finished off the first-inning fireworks with a solo homer
that made it 4-0.
The Cajuns added one more run in the
second inning and then blew the game out of proportion with
an eight-spot in the third inning that increased the lead to
13-0.
Louisiana-Lafayette's final two runs
came in the fourth inning. Freshman Kelsey Cammarata picked
up the team's first triple of the season when she fired a
frozen rope deep into the right center field gap that scored
Codi Runyan. Cammarata was brought home for the Cajuns'
final run of the game when Leslie Pierce lofted a single
into shallow left center field making it 15-0.
The shutout was the Ragin' Cajuns'
pitching staff's third straight in as many games to begin
the 2005 season.
Louisiana-Lafayette will be back in
action at 6 p.m., in a rematch with Ole Miss. The game could
feature a historic career milestone as Brooke Mitchell is
just 12 strikeouts away from 1,000 in her career. If
Mitchell gets her 1,000th career strikeout against Ole Miss,
she would become just the 28th pitcher in NCAA Division I
history to accomplish the feat.
