Lady Cajuns sweep, stay on track in the Sunblet

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DENTON, Texas — Louisiana remained perfect in Sun Belt Conference play and extended its league winning streak to nine games with a 3-0, 3-1 doubleheader sweep of North Texas here Saturday.

The Cajuns (43-6, 9-0 Sun Belt) received RBI hits from Brittany Bryant and Lacey Bertucci in the top of the sixth to break up a 1-1 tie in the second game and help complete the sweep of the Mean Green (16-48, 1-9 Sun Belt).

Earlier in the day, Louisiana took advantage of two Mean Green errors in the second inning of game one and received another strong pitching effort from Holly Tankersley to take a 3-0 win and snap its brief two-game losing streak.

UNT scored its only run of the day in the third inning of the nightcap on a misplayed relay throw, and Mean Green starter Raci Burnett no-hit the Cajuns through three innings before Ashley Evans’ solo home run in the fourth provided the first hit and a 1-1 tie.

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Tankersley powers Cajuns to sweep of UNT

DENTON, Texas — Trying to stay unbeaten in Sun Belt Conference softball play? For Louisiana, it’s just a matter of turning things over to Holly Tankersley.

The freshman recorded pitching wins in both ends of Sunday’s doubleheader against North Texas, plated the winning run in the sixth inning of the opener and added an RBI single and two runs in the nightcap as the Ragin’ Cajuns took 1-0 and 9-3 wins over the Mean Green.

The victories completed a four-game sweep at UNT’s Denia Park and boosted the seventh-ranked Cajuns to 11-0 in the league and 45-6 overall with eight Sun Belt games remaining in the regular season. UL Lafayette has won 14 straight league games dating back to the 2003 season.

The Cajun offense, held in check through the first three games of the series, exploded for nine runs on 10 hits in the second game. A four-spot in the third inning helped UL Lafayette erase a 1-0 first-inning deficit, and the Cajuns added five more runs over the next three innings off losing pitcher Mandy Hacker (5-17) to pull away.

Tankersley (6-1) relieved Heather Bobbitt in the nightcap’s first inning after the Mean Green scored an unearned run, and worked 4 1/3 innings to record her second win of the day. The Kirbyville, Texas, native struck out three and surrendered just one run.

Earlier, she tossed a complete game four-hitter and picked up the game-winning hit in the sixth when she doubled home Hillary Guidry with the game’s only run. Guidry was hit by a pitch from UNT starter Katy Maxey (11-31) to lead off that inning and stole second to set up Tankersley’s game-clinching double in the left-center gap.

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