NORMAN, Okla. - The 2005 college softball season came to an end for Louisiana's Ragin Cajuns, after dropping two consecutive games in day two of the NCAA Region 14 Tournament in Norman, Okla., on Saturday.
In a winner's bracket contest to start the day, the third-seeded Cajuns fell to the host team, and top-seeded Oklahoma Sooners, 6-3, before being eliminated by the No. 2-seeded Oregon Ducks, 3-1.
"This team has a lot of character, which is why it hurts so bad right now," said co-head coach Michael Lotief. "They wanted it so bad, but it just didn't happen."
In the opener, Oklahoma jumped on Cajun starter Heather Bobbitt for three runs in the opening frame, taking advantage of an infield single and a walk, to take a quick 3-0 lead.
Bobbitt settled in however, and started to put up goose eggs, allowing her team the opportunity to come back.
The Cajuns took advantage of that opportunity in the bottom half of the fifth, when with two outs, Codi Runyan and Tiffany Hebert drew back-to-back walks off of Sooner starter Kami Keiter, before Jill Robertson tied the game at three with a three-run homer over the left-field fence.
"I just had a feeling that I was going to do something," said Robertson. "I wasn't trying to hit a home run, but I just wanted to be at the plate and do something positive in that situation."
The Cajun momentum was short-lived however, and the Sooners answered with two unearned runs in the top of the sixth, as Allison Horne, hitting for Keiter, delivered a two-out, two-run double, to give Oklahoma the lead back, 5-3.
The rest of the day
Steve Peloquin
Sports Correspondent