Bertucci's Bomb, Bobbitt's Pitching Take Cajuns To Sun Belt Tournamnet Title Game

<! No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette claims a 2-1 victory over Western Kentucky in SBC Tournament winner's bracket finals > <blockquote><p align=justify>BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - It wasn't their best offensive effort, but the 14th-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team got the one hit it needed and the pitching and defense to slip past Western Kentucky 2-1 here in the winner's bracket finals of the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the WKU Softball Field.

With the victory No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette (49-8) clinched a spot in Saturday's 4 p.m. championship game. The Ragin' Cajuns will attempt to make it six straight Sun Belt Tournament titles with a victory on Saturday.

Lacey Bertucci provided the offense with a two-run home run in the second inning after WKU (32-23) used a two-out RBI single to get on the board in the top of the first inning.

Heather Bobbitt scattered seven hits and saved her only strikeout of the contest for when it counted the most.

WKU led off the seventh inning with a Dana Rey single up the middle. Samantha Young laid down the sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner Renikka Tolliver to second base. Bobbitt followed that up with a strikeout as she caught Natasha Sevco looking on a called third strike for the second out of the inning.

Louisiana-Lafayette's defense made play after play all game long, but the play of the game came on the next at bat.

Bailey Rolfs fired an infield single off the glove of Tiffany Hebert at third base. The ball ricocheted off of Hebert's glove and rolled into the hole at shortstop. Codi Runyan went back to gather the ball, made a complete turnaround and fired a strike to Joy Webre at home plate to tag out Tolliver for the game-ending out.

Bobbitt picked up her second straight SBC Tournament victory and kept her season record undefeated at 18-0.

"It's been a long time since our program won a winner's bracket game with someone other than Brooke Mitchell," said co-head coach Michael Lotief. "It was good to see Heather (Bobbitt) compete with each pitch and her defense play hard behind her.

"We didn't have a good game offensively," Lotief added. "All the credit for this victory should go to Heather for making the pitches, Joy for making the right calls and for our defense making the plays we needed."

A Shelly Floyd two-out double off of the right field fence kept the Hilltoppers alive in the top of the first inning. Alana Towns then walked and Stephanie Young placed a single into shallow right field that Danyele Gomez couldn't reach in time allowing Floyd to score for the early 1-0 lead.

Joy Webre drew a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the second inning and set the stage for Bertucci's game-winning base hit. Bertucci powered a towering shot to straightaway center to put the Cajuns on top 2-1.

Bobbitt settled in and scattered four hits after allowing three in the Hilltoppers first two at bats. She worked a perfect third and fifth inning and worked around a leadoff double by WKU's Stephanie Young in the fourth inning to hold onto the victory.

The victory kept Louisiana-Lafayette undefeated all-time in SBC Tournament action at 18-0 and moved the program within one win of 50 for the fourth time in the last five years.

The Ragin' Cajuns will finish tournament play at WKU Softball Field and compete for the 2005 SBC Tournament championship on Saturday, May 14 in a 4 p.m. contest against an opponent that will be determined by a 1:30 p.m. consolation bracket game featuring Western Kentucky and the winner of Friday's final game between New Mexico State and North Texas.
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