The Book: 2003 Softball

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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

[NewsCopy]

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

[bear_three]

score

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Thanks bear_three

"Louisiana lead-off hitter Jill Roberston started the game with a home run as the Ragin' Cajuns scored five runs on four hits, including two home runs and two doubles."

[bear_three]

No prob. I look all over for the final before I stumbled onto that page.

We play Texas next on MAy 22 @ 6:30pm CT.

We're in the same bracket as UCLA and Cal. Gonna be tough to come out of that bracket.

[RedBug58]

This is the "College World Series", the best of the best. Look at the names of the schools where these teams are coming from. Again, we are the Cinderella. Our "wins per dollar spent ratio" has got to extremely high compared to this group!!!

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana softball enjoys slaying the giant programs.

LOUISIANA La. — It would be easy to come up with movie themes for Louisiana’s latest berth in the Women’s College World Series.

Obviously, that rousing prairie classic “Oklahoma” comes to mind, since the Lady Cajuns of coach Stefni Lotief board the bus this morning for Oklahoma City.

Probably, though, you’d have to grant that one to the University of Oklahoma Sooners, the de facto host program for this week’s action.

Then there’s the 1961 epic “El Cid,” in which Charlton Heston portrayed legendary Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, an 11th century knight who drove the Moors from Spain.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com