LOUISIANA La. — The LAdy Cajun softball team improved to 13-1 on the year (8-0 at home) and won their inaugural Mardi Gras Classic by defeating Stephen F. Austin 3-1 on Sunday.

Junior pitcher Brooke Mitchell (10-1) tied and then surpassed Cajun coach Stefni Lotief for third place on UL’s all-time strikeout list.

“Nothing Brooke does ever surprises me,” said Lotief, who recorded 576 strikeouts in her career. “She is an awesome pitcher who has a great work ethic. She is only a junior, so there is no telling how many strikeouts she is going to finish with.”

Mitchell struck out Lady Jacks leftfielder Jaime Brown in the sixth inning to tie Lotief at 576 and then fanned second baseman Heather Hebert swinging to end the game for strikeout 577.

“I really try not to pay attention to it (individual accomplishments),” Mitchell said. “It’s nice, but it doesn’t matter to me. The whole goal here is to win the World Series.”

In the win, Mitchell allowed one unearned run on six hits and two hit batters, while striking out eight in seven innings of work en route to winning tournament MVP honors.

The Cajuns only had two hits in the game, but they took advantage of three first-inning walks issued by losing pitcher Nicole Carter (1-4) for a quick 2-0 lead.

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Eric Narcisse
enarcisse@theadvertiser.com