Gomez goes out on top

[NewsCopy]

She just might be the nation's best collegiate hitter. That's what the offensive numbers say about Danyele Gomez, who wraps up her home softball career this weekend when the University of Louisiana hosts Western Kentucky. But that's even more reinforced when you watch the senior from Metairie in practice, and see line drive after line drive fly off the bat. Every swing is an attack, and that yellow ball usually loses. "She's such a fierce competitor," said Ragin' Cajun coach Stefni Lotief. "She battles every day, and it doesn't matter if it's off the pitching machine, in an intrasquad game, whenever." It's those battles that have enabled her to compile totals never reached by a UL player and matched by very few in the history of the college game. Gomez enters Saturday's 1 p.m. twinbill with 78 career home runs, the fifth-highest total in NCAA Division I history, and she could easily move up to fourth on that list in the weekend's three-game series. She leads the country in homers this season with 25, and she's three ahead of her nearest pursuer. She has scored more often than any Division I player this year and has hit for power more than any other, leading the nation in both runs and slugging percentage. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[Crowley Cajun]

80% chance of rain Saturday. Doesn't look good. Another hit on the rpi if they don't play even though WKU is at #111.