TUCSON, Ariz. - True freshman Holly Tankersley made her NCAA Regional debut here Friday at University of Arizona's Hillenbrand Stadium in one of the most pressure-packed situations of her career.
No. 9 Louisiana (57-7) lost earlier in the day by a 4-0 count to Arizona to fall into the elimination bracket of the NCAA Regional No. 1. Another loss by the fifth-seeded Cajuns would send the team home for the rest of the season.
No pressure. Right?
The Cajuns decided to rest junior ace hurler Brooke Mitchell who had worked a complete game against No. 1 Arizona in the blazing heat the game before.
With the season on the line, Tankersley walked out to the circle with the poise of a veteran and tossed six innings of two hit softball in pitching the Ragin' Cajuns to an 8-1 win over seventh-seeded Temple.
Tankersley (10-1) struck out a career-high 10 batters and allowed no earned runs as the Cajuns staved off elimination and advanced into Saturday's 4 p.m. (CDT) elimination game against the winner of Friday evening's Northwestern-South Carolina game.
"We're here to play another day," said Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Stefni Lotief. "We played Arizona the best that we could. We definitely didn't play our 'A' game. We came back and played a great game against Temple."
UL Lafayette's contest on Saturday can be heard live on SportsRadio ESPN 1420-KPEL AM and will be broadcast on College Sports Television. CSTV is available on Time Warner, Adelphia and Insight cable systems, among others, and is also available on DirecTV (channel 610). For information on CSTV availability in particular markets, consumers can log on to www.collegesports.com or call their cable or satellite operator.
The offense did its part to back up a stellar outing from Tankersley by cranking out eight runs off of 10 hits. Tankersley, Danyele Gomez and Desi Chatman each had two hits
"We hit the ball," Lotief said. "That's the kind of team offense we like to play. I was pleased. We came out and swung our bats."
Tankersley faced the minimum through the Owls' first eight hitters and allowed a single and a double through six complete as she earned her 10th win of the season and first-ever NCAA Regional victory.
"I just had one bad inning," Tankersley said on her performance. "We did pretty well as a team. We had team offense and team defense, and that's how we got the win."
With the win Louisiana picked up its 57th win of the season which ties the program record for wins set in 1993 (57-7) and 1994 (57-5).
After a pair of scoreless innings the Cajuns were able to push across the game's first run in the top of the third inning when Crystal George scored on a wild pitch. George led off the inning with a walk and moved over to second on a Hillary Guidry sacrifice bunt and over to third on a Tankersley single.
Louisiana was able to put the game out of reach in the fourth inning with a three-spot off of four hits.
Ashley Evans and Lacey Bertucci began the frame with back-to-back singles into left field.
After a passed ball advanced Evans and pinch runner Christine Collins over one base, Desi Chatman dumped a single into left center to score Evans and Collins. Chatman moved over on a fielding error by center fielder Katie Weigle and Collins rounded third to make it 3-0.
After a TU pitching change, George brought home Chatman with a one-out double over the reach of Lynsey Grace in left field to give the Cajuns a 4-0 lead.
UL Lafayette added more insurance in the sixth, pushing across four more runs.
Chatman hit a one-out double to right center. After Joy Webre grounded out to first base, George drew a two-out walk.
Michelle Bergeaux then began the two-out hit parade with a single into center field that scored Chatman who had advanced over to third on Webre's grounder.
Tankersley kept the Cajuns' inning alive with a base hit that landed in right center field. The hit scored George from second while the relay throw from Weigle to home went wild and past the catcher allowing Bergeaux to scamper home and score the Cajuns seventh run of the game.
A double into the left center field gap by Danyele Gomez wrapped up the scoring for the Cajuns as Tankersley gave Louisiana-Lafayette an 8-0 lead.
The Owls scratched for one unearned run in the bottom half of the sixth after a catcher's interference call with two outs kept the inning alive. With the bases loaded, Tankersley walked Fegeley to force home Mora with Temple's lone run of the contest.
Heather Bobbitt worked the seventh in relief of Tankersley. Bobbitt walked two batters and struck out two while leaving the bases loaded after XX grounded to Gomez at third to end the game.
LOUISIANA SI
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Louisiana almost run rules Temple
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