Mitchell earns more Sun Belt honors
LAdy Cajun softball team hosts UL Monroe in twinbill today.
LOUISIANA La. — If there is anyone who has figured out how to consistently get hits off of UL Lafayette’s Brooke Mitchell, she hasn’t shown up this season. Mitchell has earned a second straight Pitcher of the Week honor in the Sun Belt Conference after a dazzling weekend at UL’s Mardi Gras Classic, and now stands ready to lead the Lady Cajuns against visiting UL Monroe at 2 p.m. today.
Today’s doubleheader will be the final home date until March 16, and Mitchell alone has proved to be worth the price of admission.
She had a pair of no-hitters last week — the sixth and seventh of her career — and recorded six victories while striking out 74 in 42 innings of work.
In the Mardi Gras Classic alone, she fanned 50 in 28 innings. Against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, she relieved Holly Tankersley with the score tied 2-2 and struck out 15 in six innings of a 10-inning, 3-2 win.
Mitchell, the 26th Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week in coach Stefni Lotief’s three-plus years as coach of the UL program, passed Lotief into third place in career strikeouts with 577.
With Mitchell leading the way, the Cajuns have won 11 straight games and are 13-1 on the season. They also have conquered 31 straight opponents at home.
When the Cajuns met ULM earlier this year in Monroe, they posted a 10-0 victory behind a grand slam home run by Danyele Gomez and a two-run blast from Brittany Bryant.
The run-rule win was overkill, since the Indians got just a Heather Hanson bunt single against Mitchell, who has a 0.39 earned run average and 134 strikeouts in 71 1/3 innings in 2004.
UL needed her excellence last weekend, when they managed just a .165 (21-of-127) batting average and struck out 47 times.
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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com
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