University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Kirchberg's No-Hitter Completes Day of Domination for Cajuns Pitchers
4/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Saturday, April 22, 2006
DENTON, Texas – The 13th-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team is in line for its first Sun Belt Conference sweep of the 2006 season. Senior pitcher Ashley Kirchberg saw to it.
Kirchberg tossed her first career no-hitter helping lead No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette (38-8, 6-2 Sun Belt) to a 5-0 victory in game two of a doubleheader with North Texas (18-29, 1-7 Sun Belt) here Saturday afternoon at Denia Park.
Earlier in the day, UL posted a 2-0 victory in game one and clinched its third Sun Belt series win with the game two victory.
While Kirchberg was shining in the pitching circle the offense cranked out three home runs as Danyele Gomez, Lacey Bertucci and Ashley Evans each homered over the 225-foot fences of Denia Park.
Combined with FIU's 7-1 loss to Western Kentucky in game two of their doubleheader, the Ragin' Cajuns took over sole possession of first place in the league improving to 6-2 in league play while FIU fell to 5-3.
The shutout was the Ragin' Cajuns' second straight after entering the weekend series with no shutouts in the first six Sun Belt games. Kirchberg collected her team-best 11th solo shutout as the team's season total grew to 20.
Both Kirchberg and North Texas' Anne Morton traded hitless frames through the first three innings.
The second time through the lineup got things headed in the right direction for the Ragin' Cajuns.
Brittany Bryant drew a leadoff walk and Gomez ripped a double that landed at the base of the outfield fence in left center field. Evans put an end to the scoreless drought when she belted her 16th home run of the season to put the Cajuns up 3-0.
A Jessica Lemoine double with one out in the fifth inning prompted a switch in the circle for the Mean Green. Jessica Smith entered and retired Karli Hubbard and Bryant after a wild pitch moved Lemoine to third base.
Smith's fortunes ended there as Gomez and Bertucci greeted her with back-to-back solo home runs in the sixth inning to increase the UL lead to 5-0.
Gomez' home run was her team-leading 24th of the season and her 77th career shot. The Metairie native now stands alone in fifth place on the all-time NCAA career home run charts passing up Arizona's Jenny Dalton for the five spot. Gomez is now only two home runs shy of tying Washington's Kristen Rivera for fourth place (79) and three shy of becoming only the fourth player in NCAA DI history to amass 80 career home runs.
Bertucci smashed her 18th home run of the season extending her career-high and moving her into a tie for third place in school history. Bertucci has 43 career home runs tying her with Stephanie DeFeo for third place.
Kirchberg got three harmless outs in the sixth inning. The Mean Green tried a bunt single with one out in the sixth, but Deserea Griffin scooped it up and fired to Bryant who rushed to first base before Taylor Johnston could get there.
Kirchberg worked through the 2-3-4 hitters in the Mean Green's lineup to complete her no-hitter. She struck out pinch hitter Kristin Holder and then Evans made a sliding grab on a low liner from power hitter Susan Waters. Codi Runyan settled underneath a shallow pop up in left center off the bat of Kristina Fowler for the final out.
No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette extended its current winning streak to four games and improved to 10-0 against North Texas all-time in Sun Belt regular season play.
Gomez scored two more runs increasing her season total to 63 which is five shy of the single season record of 68 set by Alana Addison. UL still has nine regular season games left plus the postseason.
Gomez' home run in the sixth inning was her 70th base hit of the season marking the first time in her career that she's reached the 70-hit plateau.
No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette will now turn its attention to its first potential sweep of the 2006 Sun Belt season. In each of its previous two series, the Cajuns have slipped up and fallen in game three.
The two teams close out the series and the Cajuns go for the sweep on Sunday, April 23 at Denia Park. First pitch will be at 12 Noon and fans can track all of the action via LIVE STATS at www.louisiana.edu/softball.
#13
Louisiana-Lafayette 5, North Texas 0
(Apr 22, 2006 at Denton, Texas) (Game 2)
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Louisiana-Lafayette. 000 302 0 - 5 7 1
(38-8, 6-2 SUN BELT)
North Texas......... 000 000 0 - 0 0 0
(18-29, 1-7 SUN BELT)
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Pitchers: Louisiana-Lafayette - Kirchberg. North Texas -
Morton; Smith(5).
Win-Kirchberg(17-1) Loss-Morton(0-1) T-1:38
A-219
HR UL - Gomez (24); Bertucci (18); Evans (16).
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
