Mississippi State, McNeese latest to be routed by UL.

LOUISIANA La. - In a big game against big competition, you can't afford to make mistakes.

That was a lesson quickly learned by the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who were defeated 7-2 by the nation's No. 5-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in the Ragin' Cajun Invitational on Saturday evening.

"It's not about who we are playing against that matters," said Cajuns coach Stefni Lotief. "It's all about how we play once we get inside the white lines. We want to just make sure that we play to the best of our abilities."

The Bulldogs (6-2) hung tough with the Cajuns (8-0) for three innings, but in the top of the fourth inning, the wheels began to fall off for MSU. Cajun first baseman Lacey Bertucci led off the inning with her third home run of the year to right centerfield giving UL a 1-0 lead. The home run extended Bertucci's hit streak to eight games.

"Lacey just utterly loves the game of softball," Lotief said. "She never takes any pitch for granted."

"I'm just seeing the ball really well right now," Bertucci said.

With two outs and Ashley Evans, who reached on a walk, on second, the Bulldogs made a costly throwing error on a ground ball hit by pinch hitter Leslie Pierce allowng Evans to score for a 2-0 lead.

"We tend to respond well when something good happens," Bertucci said. "When other teams make mistakes we want to take advantage of them."

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Eric Narcisse
enarcisse@theadvertiser.com