SMASHING Lady Cajuns WIN the Sunbelt

[Turbine]

They win the finals with a 19-0 score.

What a year.

Tommorrow we find out where the Lady Cajuns go

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LADY CAJUNS CLAIM FIFTH STRAIGHT SUN BELT TOURNAMENT TITLE
No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette crushes Sun Belt Tournament-record six home runs in 19-0 rout of Middle Tennessee

LOUISIANA La. - Back-to-back home runs to lead off the contest were a sign of things to come in the 2004 Sun Belt Softball Tournament championship game here Saturday evening at Lady' Cajuns Softball Park.

Ninth-ranked Louisiana would go on to belt four more home runs, ending with a Sun Belt Tournament-record six, and plated 17 more runs in posting a 19-0 rout of Middle Tennessee to claim the program's fifth straight SBC Tournament championship.

Holly Tankersley and Joy Webre each drove home five runs for the Cajuns (55-6) and the offensive support was more than enough for Brooke Mitchell who struck out eight and held the Lady Raiders (35-23) to three hits.

Tankersley and Danyele Gomez led the hit parade with two home runs apiece. Tankersley's bombs increased her season-leading total to 20 as she tied Gomez's single-season record.

As a team, the Cajuns tied a season-high with 17 hits as six players tallied at least two hits.

The six home runs vaulted the Cajuns to 84 for the season which surpassed the previous record of 79 hit last season.

The win extended the Lady Cajuns win streak to 14 games and tied the 1994 team for the most victories heading into NCAA Regional play. It also kept the Ragin' Cajuns Sun Belt Tournament record undefeated at 16-0.

"It was a total team effort," said head coach Stefni Lotief. "Everybody stepped in and captured the championship moment. We really had a good tournament, and we hope we can carry it over to NCAA Regionals."

Mitchell, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, threw 5 1/3 innings of shutout softball in winning her second game of the day and third of the tournament.

For the tournament, the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year threw 18-plus scoreless innings - striking out 33 while allowing only five hits. Included in the effort was her sixth no-hitter of the season against Florida International earlier Saturday.

The Pasadena, Texas, native collected her 41st win of the season against three losses. Earlier in the day, her win over FIU was her 40th which made her one of only 12 players in NCAA Division I history to record 40-plus victories in a single season.

A grand slam off the bat of Tankersley in the third inning highlighted a seven-run frame that gave the Cajuns a 9-0 lead after three innings. Gomez made it back-to-back dingers for the second time to give the Cajuns their seventh run of the game.

Webre, who ended the day with a career-high five RBI, launched a three-run shot in the fifth inning. The Cajuns pushed across six more in the sixth aided by a three-run home run from Lacey Bertucci.

Louisiana will now turn its attention to NCAA Regional action Thursday-Sunday, May 20-23 at a site to be determined. The pairings will be announced between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday, May 16 on ESPNews. Fans are invited to join the team at Buffalo Wild Wings on Ambassador Caffery to watch the selection show live.

Winner's Bracket Finals vs. Florida International

Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year Brooke Mitchell tossed the second no-hitter in league tournament history on Saturday, as No. 1 seed Louisiana-Lafayette advanced to the Sun Belt Softball Tournament championship game with a 3-0 win over No. 2 Florida International at Lady Cajun Park.

Mitchell (40-3) struck out 14 and allowed just two baserunners in claiming her second win of the tournament. The win makes the junior just the 12th pitcher in NCAA Division I history to win 40 games in a season.

Sun Belt Freshman of the Year Holly Tankersley paced the Ragin' Cajun offense with a solo home run, while Ashley Evans provided an RBI double.

FIU All-Sun Belt left-hander Amanda Nealer (12-12) took the loss, giving up four hits and two runs in five innings of work.

LOUISIANA SI
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[NewsCopy]

LAFAYETTE — UL Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns were in a high-stakes situation this weekend.

There was the rain-plagued Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Ragin’ Cajun Softball Park, of course, and the Cajuns were picked to march through that event after winning all 18 regular-season league contests.

But coach Stefni Lotief’s squad is also ranked No. 9 in the nation, and knew a weekend sweep was vital to any hopes of gaining a No. 1 regional seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

“All we can do is take care of our business and win the tournament this weekend,” Lotief said. “That’s something we have no control over. The committee makes that kind of decision.”

Lotief’s Cajuns improved to 55-6 on the season to win the Sun Belt Tournament, as expected, so they tended to business. And they gave any NCAA decision-makers something to contemplate.

In Saturday’s winners’ bracket finals, junior pitcher Brooke Mitchell delivered the second no-hitter in Sun Belt Tournament history in a 3-0 victory over rival Florida International.

The finals provided a switch, when Middle Tennessee ousted FIU 4-3 to earn a spot in the title game, but it didn’t change the outcome.

Freshman of the Year Holly Tankersley hammered a pair of home runs to match Danyele Gomez’s season record of 20, and Gomez came through with a pair of her own, as the Cajuns delivered a 19-0 knockout punch to a weary Lady Raiders team playing its third game in a row.

The 19 runs scored by UL is the most in a Sun Belt Tournament championship game.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com