The Book: 2003 Softball

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21st-ranked Ragin' Cajuns softball travels to Lake Charles Tuesday for final non-conference tilt of the season

LAKE CHARLES - The 21st-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns softball team begins play in the final week of the 2003 regular season here Tuesday evening in a 5 p.m. doubleheader with I-10 rival McNeese State at the Cowgirl Diamond.

Louisiana (35-7, 10-2 Sun Belt) has six games remaining on the schedule for this season and will conclude the regular season over the weekend in a four-game series at Western Kentucky May 3-4 in Bowling Green, Ky., before returning to Bowling Green for the Sun Belt Conference tournament May 8-10.

Tuesday's doubleheader with the Cowgirls (23-23-1, 15-11-1 Southland) will mark the Ragin' Cajuns final non-conference games of the season and continue the Cajuns current 12-game road trip to end the season.

Louisiana will enter the twinbill with MSU winners of 20 of its last 22 games overall.

The Cajuns have also won their last 10 non-conference outings since a 1-0 loss to Oklahoma on March 14 at the KIA Klassic. Louisiana is 25-5 this season outside of the Sun Belt Conference.

McNeese State comes into Tuesday's encounters having won two-of-three from Sam Houston State last weekend in a Southland Conference series. The Cowgirls have won 21 of their last 34 outings and tied one since a 2-10 start to the season.

McNeese State, the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament, will be playing its regular season and home finale before traveling to Natchitoches for the SLC Tournament May 2-4.

The Cajuns are 14-0 against Louisiana teams this season and have won the last 15 meetings against their in-state foes dating back to last season.


Last Thursday at Northwestern State, the Cajuns picked up their 400th win all-time against Louisiana teams with a win in game one and the 40th under coach Stefni Lotief with the win in game two.

The Cajuns swept the Demons 1-0 and 6-3 to snap their brief two-game losing streak.

Jill Robertson had the game-winning RBI in the opener with a one-out single off of the left field fence in the third inning and Becky McMurtry provided the game-winning RBI in the nightcap with a deep sacrifice fly to left center field to score Robertson who had tripled
for the first time this season the batter before.

UL and McNeese met earlier this season in the 17th Annual Louisiana Classics at Lady Cajun Park with the Ragin' Cajuns claiming a pair of 11-0 wins over the Cowgirls en route to the tournament title.

LOUISIANA SI

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LAKE CHARLES — Louisiana’s 21st-ranked Lady Cajuns begin play in the final week of the regular season at 5 p.m. today with a doubleheader against I-10 rival McNeese State at the Cowgirl Diamond.

Louisiana (35-7, 10-2 Sun Belt) will conclude the regular season over the weekend in a four-game series at Western Kentucky May 3-4, before returning to Bowling Green for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament May 8-10.

Today’s doubleheader with the Cowgirls (23-23-1, 15-11-1 Southland) will mark the Ragin’ Cajuns final non-conference games of the season and continue the Cajuns current 12-game road trip to end the season.

The Cajuns are winners of 20 of their last 22 games overall, and have also won their last 10 non-conference outings since a 1-0 loss to Oklahoma on March 14 at the KIA Klassic. Louisiana is 25-5 this season outside of the Sun Belt Conference.

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LAKE CHARLES – Sophomore ace Brooke Mitchell tossed her third no-hitter of the season Tuesday to go along with a win in relief in game two as the University of Louisiana swept McNeese State University 4-0, 3-2 at Cowgirl Diamond.

Also, true freshman Danyele Gomez ripped her school single-season record 17th home run of the season as the 21st-ranked Lady Cajuns completed their non-conference schedule.

With the sweep, the LAdy Cajuns extended their win streak to four games and moved to 37-7 on the season – a season-high 30 games above .500.

Louisiana will now take the next three days off before opening a key four-game Sun Belt Conference series in Bowling Green, Ky., against Western Kentucky this weekend.

McNeese State fell to 23-25-1 and concluded its 2003 regular season and will now travel to Natchitoches for the Southland Conference Tournament.

Louisiana rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the nightcap to preserve the sweep and extend its win streak over the Cowgirls to 33 straight games and finish the regular season 16-0 against Louisiana teams and 27-5 in non-conference tilts.

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LOUISIANA La. — Stefni Lotief knows about balancing athletics and academics.

Louisiana’s Lady Cajun softball coach was an All-American pitcher at the school, in addition to being its first Academic All-American, before earning bachelors and masters degrees from the university.

Her current Lady Cajuns posted a 3.5 team grade point average in 2002, with major fields of study such as pre-medicine and engineering.

Both pitcher Rachel Reese, who has been accepted at the University of Texas School of Medicine, and third baseman Becky McMurtry (general studies, teaching certificate) will be the outstanding graduate in their respective colleges this month.

So, when Lotief spoke to honorees at Wednesday’s Lourdes SportsCare Scholar Athlete Banquet, she drew from a wealth of material.

“Too often, accomplishments in the classroom are not recognized for athletes,” Lotief said. “That’s why this program is so important.”

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South Louisiana Publishing
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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LOUISIANA La. — Rain, and Western Kentucky, may decide the 2003 Sun Belt Conference regular-season softball title.

Louisiana leads the league standings at 10-2 (37-7 overall), with its only defeats coming at Florida International on April 20.

FIU (32-22) is right behind at 8-2, losing twice to the Lady Cajuns on April 19, but the Panthers lost two valuable opportunities when a pair of contests against Western Kentucky was washed out last Saturday.

The Panthers won on Sunday, 3-1 and 2-0, yet remain two back in the win column.

Coach Stefni Lotief’s Lady Cajuns finish the campaign at WKU Saturday and Sunday, knowing that a sweep of the four-game weekend package assures the program its second straight regular-season crown.

Louisiana also won league tournament titles in 2001 and 2002.

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South Louisiana Publishing
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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22nd-ranked LAdy Cajun softball snaps three-game Sun Belt losing streak with win in the nightcap, Thoms tosses complete-game two-hitter

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Senior All-American third baseman and 2003 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year candidate Becky McMurtry ripped a two-out, RBI-single up the middle of the infield to score pinch runner Tiffany Hebert with the game-winning run and helped the 22nd-ranked Louisiana LAdy Cajuns softball team salvage a split with host Western Kentucky here Saturday afternoon at the WKU Softball Field in a pair of eight-inning contests.

Western Kentucky pulled off the 3-2 upset win in the opener on a Kristalyn Smith two-out RBI-double in the bottom of the eighth inning while the LAdy Cajuns rebounded with the 1-0 win in the nightcap behind the arm of redshirt freshman Afton Thoms who threw a complete-game two-hitter of the Toppers.

With the 1-0 win in the nightcap, Louisiana (38-8, 11-3 Sun Belt) remained on track to claim its third straight undisputed SBC regular season championship and the No. 1 seed for the upcoming conference tournament to be held in Bowling Green May 8-10.

The win also ended the Cajuns school-record, three-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak. The loss in game one was the Cajuns first-ever at the WKU Softball Field.

Thanks to a Middle Tennessee 2-0 win over Florida International, the Cajuns remain one game in front of FIU for the league lead and will wrap up the title with a sweep in Sunday's twinbill which begins and noon. If FIU sweeps MT, the Cajuns must sweep. If FIU splits, then the Cajuns would just need a split. Whatever FIU does, the Cajuns must do the same.

The Cajuns and Hilltoppers were locked in a picture-perfect pitcher's duel in the nightcap before Summar Lapeyrouse jump started the Cajuns rally in the eighth inning with a leadoff double. She was replaced by Tiffany Hebert at second base.

Hebert would move over to third base on a fly out by Crystal George and then score the winning run two batters later on McMurtry's game-winning hit. For McMurtry it was her fourth game-winning hit in the Cajuns last six outings.

Thoms picked up the win for the Cajuns - without a doubt the biggest of her young career. The Baton Rouge native was in cruise control and limited the Toppers to just two hits all night. She improved to 11-2 on the season and lowered her ERA to 1.52.

WKU's Allison Silver took the loss and began to lose control in the eighth. Silver went the distance as well surrendering just three hits while striking out eight batters. She falls to 14-14 on the season.

In game one, WKU rallied from a 2-1 fifth inning deficit to pull off the come-from-behind upset victory over the Cajuns and hand Louisiana its third straight Sun Belt Conference defeat - the longest losing streak in conference play since the league formed in 2001. Entering the 2003 season, the Cajuns had just lost two SBC games in two previous seasons.

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Kristalyn Smith, who was 0-for-3 going into the at bat, lifted a towering double off of the left center field fence that allowed Brandy Hawkins to round third base with the game-winning run and a 3-2 final score.

The Cajuns had rallied back from an early 1-0 deficit with a two-out, 2-RBI single from freshman Danyele Gomez in the top of the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead. Gomez increased her team- and Sun Belt-leading RBI total to 52 with that single.

WKU tied the game in the bottom half of the sixth inning when Renita Pennington singled home Hawkins, who had led off the inning with a double down the left field line, to tie the game 2-2.

Louisiana had its chances in the top of the seventh inning to bring home the winning run but faltered in leaving the bases loaded. Gomez singled and Webre and Bryant walked with two outs before Lauren Castle flied out to center field to end the threat.

The loss spoiled yet another brilliant pitching performance by sophomore ace Brooke Mitchell who went 7 2/3 innings, struck out 11 and allowed just one earned run. The offense stranded her in the disappointing loss going 4-for-28 at the plate.

The 11 strikeouts were the seventh double-digit strikeout performance from Mitchell (19-6).

With the loss, the Cajuns fell to 0-2 this season in extra innings. The other extra-inning affair came on Feb. 28 in an 8-5 loss to Notre Dame in the 17th Annual Louisiana Classics.

Adrienne Lathrop picked up the win for the Hilltoppers and improved to 14-9 on the season.

WKU hit four doubles in the contest led by two from Hawkins. Of the Toppers seven hits four went for extra bases.

The Cajuns stranded 10 runners on base compared to just four for WKU.

The two teams will conclude their four-game series Sunday in a noon doubleheader. It will also wrap up the 2003 regular season for both squads.

LOUISIANA SI

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Western Kentucky 3, Louisiana 2
(May 03, 2003 at Bowling Green, Ky.)
(Game 1)

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Louisiana. 00002000 - 2 4 0 (37-8, 10-3 SUN BELT)
Western Kentucky.... 01000101 - 3 7 2 (28-27, 5-6 SUN BELT)

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Pitchers:
Louisiana - Mitchell.
Western Kentucky - Lathrop.
Win-Lathrop(14-9)
Loss-Mitchell(19-6)
T-2:42
A-0
Game: UL-45

LOUISIANA SI

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Louisiana 1, Western Kentucky 0
(May 03, 2003 at Bowling Green, Ky.)
(Game 2)

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Louisiana 00000001 - 1 3 0 (38-8, 11-3 SUN BELT)
Western Kentucky.... 00000000 - 0 2 1 (28-28, 5-7 SUN BELT)

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Pitchers:
Louisiana - Thoms.
Western Kentucky - Silver.
Win-Thoms(11-2)
Loss-Silver(14-14)
T-1:45
A-114
Game: ULL46

LOUISIANA SI

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Never underestimate the heart of a champion.

A three-game Sun Belt losing streak near the end of the season and an offensive performance below average had many raising questions of what might be wrong.

But the 22nd-ranked Louisiana LAdy Cajuns knew what the answer was. There was nothing wrong at all.

A day after a subpar offensive showing on the field, the offense was alive and well here Sunday afternoon at the WKU Softball Field and ended any doubts of a late season meltdown by pounding out 15 runs and 19 hits en route to a 10-1 (6 innings), 5-0 sweep of host Western Kentucky.

With the sweep, the Cajuns (40-8, 13-3) clinched their third straight Sun Belt Conference regular season championship and the No. 1 seed for the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

With the 5-0 second game victory, the Cajuns notched the 900th win in program history. Louisiana, which began playing softball in 1981, now sports an all-time record of 900-281 in 22-plus seasons.

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[1stTake]

Great job Stefni. Thank you. Keep those annexations coming. Am I the only one who understands that the only reason softball is big in Louisiana is because USL and now UL have been promoting it for over 20 years? I think softball is the most successful highschool lady sport after football in Acadiana. I wish there were more conversations on UL's diamond in the rough. Raginpagin.com does a good job of keeping up with the latest stories but nobody talks about the team. If we don't start talking someday we will come to regret it. I do have one question why were so few games played this year? It made reaching 50 wins for a thrid straight year impossible. That is ok except 50 sounds so good. Great job Stefni.

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Becky McMurtry and Afton Thoms named,
Sun Belt Hitter and Pitcher of the Week.

LAFAYETTE - It came as no surprise that after the biggest weekend of the 2003 season in which they clinched the third straight Sun Belt championship that Louisiana's LAdy Cajuns softball team would probably sweep the weekly Sun Belt honors.

On Monday, the league office confirmed those sentiments when it named 22nd-ranked Louisiana's LAdy Cajun senior All-American third baseman Becky McMurtry the conference's Hitter of the Week while redshirt freshman Afton Thoms was named the Pitcher of the Week.

The dual awards marked the second time this season that the Lady Cajuns ran away with both of the Sun Belt's weekly honors.

On March 4, McMurtry was named the Hitter of the Week while senior Michael Parrott was the Pitcher of the Week.

Louisiana (40-8, 13-3 Sun Belt), the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament beginning Thursday, picked up its fifth award of the season in both categories.

Thoms' selection ended a four-week drought and was the Lady Cajuns' first Pitcher of the Week since Brooke Mitchell earned the honor on March 31.

For McMurtry, she collected her third honor of the season and first since April 7. She was also named the Hitter of the Week on March 4.

This week's award was McMurtry's fifth of her two-year career at Louisiana (received honor on March 25 and April 29 last season).

Thoms picked up the first weekly honor of her brief career after two of the biggest performances of her career.

McMurtry went 11-for-21 (.524 average) last week with the game winning hit in four of the six games played by the Cajuns and increased her Sun Belt-best batting average to .426. The North Platte, Neb., native had the game-winning hits in both wins at McNeese Tuesday and went 4-for-6 with three RBI in the doubleheader.

Then on Saturday, she had a RBI single in the eighth inning of a pivotal 1-0 Cajuns win over Western Kentucky.

McMurtry ended the week on Sunday in the second game against Western Kentucky with two home runs and four RBI - the first home run being the game-winning hit. She went 5-for-8 with five (5) RBI and two home runs in Sunday's sweep of WKU. McMurtry ended the week with two home runs and nine (9) RBI.

Thoms (12-2, 1.39 ERA) tossed two complete-game shutouts of Western Kentucky in helping the Cajuns clinch their third straight Sun Belt regular season title.

The Baton Rouge native allowed just six hits over 15 innings in her two appearances while striking out eight batters. She held the Hilltoppers, a team batting over .280 entering the weekend to a .125 average in her two appearances.

Pitched a complete-game two-hitter in the Lady Cajuns 1-0 win Saturday, a win which kept the Cajuns on pace for the league championship in a game that also ended Louisiana's three-game Sun Belt slide.. Then on Sunday, Thoms scattered four hits and tossed another shutout in the game which clinched the Cajuns their third straight SBC title.

The Lady Cajuns will be back in action on Thursday, May 8 at 4 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the 2003 Sun Belt Conference Tournament against the winner of the opening round game between host-Western Kentucky and New Mexico State at the WKU Softball Field in Bowling Green, Ky.

LOUISIANA SI

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Three Lady Cajuns were awarded Sun Belt Conference individual honors, four were named to the All-Sun Belt first team and the Louisiana softball team was presented with its 2003 Sun Belt Conference regular season championship trophy here Wednesday.

The awards, presented on the eve of the Sun Belt Tournament hosted by Western Kentucky, were part of the banquet at the Carroll Knicely Conference Center on WKU’s south campus.

Senior All-American third baseman Becky McMurtry earned repeat honors as the Player of the Year, Brooke Mitchell was tabbed the league’s Top Pitcher and Danyele Gomez garnered the Freshman of the Year award as the Cajuns’ and the league’s highest honorees.

McMurtry was joined on the first team All-Sun Belt squad by Mitchell, outfielder Gomez and freshman second baseman Brittany Bryant.

Senior first baseman Summar Lapeyrouse and sophomore outfielder Crystal George were the Cajun representatives on the second team.

McMurtry, last year’s Player and Newcomer of the Year, ended the regular season with a SBC-best .426 average. The North Platte, Neb., native hit a league-leading .489 in conference games with four home runs and 21 RBI. She ended the regular season with 13 home runs, 15 doubles and 49 RBI.

McMurtry had a 15-game hitting streak during the season from March 14-April 13 in which she batted .611 (22-for-36). She also had an errorless streak of 22 consecutive games which spanned over 61 chances.

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Lady Cajuns get a bye for winning the Subelt regular season title.

At 4pm today, the Lady Cajuns of Louisiana take on the winner of the Western Kentucky / New Mexico State winner.

Geaux Lady Cajuns

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Oregon 4
Louisiana 0

Louisiana's Brooke Mitchell twinged something and had to leave the game in the first inning.

Freshman Afton Thoms of Baton Rouge came in relief

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Lady Cajuns score.

4-1