Mitchell caps strong doubleheader with no-hitter

<blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. — Brooke Mitchell seems to get better by the day.

Mitchell pitched six innings of suffocating relief, striking out 15 of 18 batters she faced, and Danyele Gomez lifted a solo home run to left field in the 10th inning to give Louisiana a 3-2 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in the Mardi Gras Classic on Saturday at Ragin’ Cajun Softball Park.

It was the second straight 15-strikeout performance for Mitchell on the weekend, following on the heels of Friday night’s three-hit, eight-inning 7-1 win over Texas Tech.

This time, though, it was in relief of freshman Holly Tankersley.

For good measure, the junior All-American came back to register her seventh career no-hitter and fanned 12 with a 1-0 victory over Missouri on Saturday.

The No. 10-ranked Cajuns improved to 12-1 with the two wins, giving them 30 straight home triumphs.

Mitchell is now No. 4 on the school’s career strikeout list with 569 — passing former teammate Melissa Coronado and Jennifer Clendenin on Saturday. Next up is UL coach Stefni Lotief at 576.

As well as Mitchell pitched, though, the Cajuns still needed runs, and scoring was hard-earned in both victories.

Gomez got a solo homer up in a tailwind to right center field with two out in the first inning against SLU, and freshman Hillary Guidry powered a line drive shot to right to lead off the third and provide Tankersley a 2-0 lead.

But the Lions struck for a pair of runs in the bottom of the third when Raeni Landry reached on a one-out error, followed by singles by Karin Smith and Becky de la Garza.

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Bruce Brown
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Landry scored on de la Garza’s hit, and pinch runner Kristen Rogillio came home for Smith on another error.

After that, the two squads settled into a war of nerves similar to UL’s Friday night win over Texas Tech in which UL finally erupted for six runs in the eighth for the win.

This time, the Cajuns left nine runners stranded.

“It wasn’t frustrating, because we kept getting good at-bats,” said Gomez, who set UL’s single-season home run record of 20 last year as a freshman including a towering shot in the Women’s College World Series.

“That was our main focus. We kept making adjustments, and we weren’t worried because we knew both pitchers — Holly and Brooke — had our backs.”

Her two homers — the first off starter Rachel Ray, the winner against reliever Summer Delaneuville — were the third and fourth of 2004 for Gomez, who made it clear she wasn’t alone in hitting production.

“All of us are in a groove, actually,” Gomez said. “We’re making adjustments, and every day we’re getting a little better.

“The freshmen are great. They all work extremely hard, and their focus is tremendous. We all want to get back to where we went last year.”

Also Saturday, SLU blanked Prairie View 2-0, Prairie View beat Texas Tech 7-5, Missouri topped Stephen F. Austin 4-1 and SFA met Texas Tech in the late game.

The Mardi Gras Classic wraps up today, as Missouri meets Prairie View at 10 a.m., SLU and Texas Tech play at 12:15 and the host Cajuns face S.F. Austin at 2:30.

UL Lafayette 1, Missouri 0

The apparently tireless Mitchell was in complete control against the Tigers, walking just one and allowing no one further than first base.

But the Missouri combination of starter Erica Peterson and relievers Samantha Fleeman and Erin Kalka were almost her equal by committee.

In the top of the seventh inning, UL’s Lacey Bertucci ripped a leadoff single and was replaced by pinch runner Michelle Bergeaux.

Leslie Pierce struck out, the 14th ‘K’ of the contest for the Cajuns, and pinch hitter Desi Chatman was out when her screaming line drive was snagged with a quick reaction by Kalka.

Bergeaux did scramble into scoring position on a wild pitch during Chatman’s at-bat, though.

Tiffany Hebert worked Kalka to a full count, then hit a grounder back to the pitcher that took a wicked hop to the left. Kendra Power scooped it up, but was off-target with her throw to first and Bergeaux came home with the only run Mitchell would need.

She struck out the last two batters to polish off her dominant day.
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