Softball: No. 13 Cajuns quickly turns away LA Tech in midweek tilt

LAFAYETTE – No. 13 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball didn’t give Louisiana Tech any chance to settle in during Tuesday’s midweek game at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park, tallying a run two batters into the game and producing all of the runs in a 7-0 win by the end of the second inning.

Louisiana’s quick strike was delivered following a Ciara Bryan leadoff triple and subsequent Kaitlyn Alderink double. Alderink scored two batters later when Jade Gortarez ripped a single back up the middle and the Ragin’ Cajuns led 2-0.

An inning later the hustle of Sophie Piskos, who beat the throw on a grounder to third base with two outs, set the stage for Louisiana (35-7) pulling away from Louisiana Tech (14-23).

A walk to Bryan further extended the inning, then a misplay of a grounder gave the Ragin’ Cajuns a run and added life to take full command of the contest. Before the Lady Techsters could regroup another Gortarez RBI single and two-run single from Julie Rawls had stretched the advantage to 7-0.

Kandra Lamb, Summer Ellyson and Vanessa Foreman combined for the one-hit shutout. It was the second straight blanking of its kind, following up the shutout tossed at Texas State in Sunday’s rubber match.

Lamb set the tone early with a quick six-pitch first inning and tossed no-hit softball during her three innings in the circle. Ellyson struck out six batters over her three innings and carried the no-hit bid into the sixth inning until a two-out single gave LA Tech its lone hit of the day.

Tuesday’s outing marked Louisiana Tech’s first visit to Lamson Park since March 2013. The Ragin’ Cajuns posted their 28th consecutive win over the Lady Techsters, a streak that dates back to April 1999.

It was the final midweek game of the 2021 season for Louisiana. It also concluded the squad’s lone April homestand.

DIAMOND NOTES
• For the third straight game the Ragin’ Cajuns took hold of the lead in the first inning and improved to 29-3 when scoring first.
• The leadoff triple for Ciara Bryan was her fourth of the season and the first she’s hit at Lamson Park.
• Ciara Bryan has now posted at least one base hit in all but three of the 42 games Louisiana has played this season. Dating back to 2020, Bryan has had a hit in 61 of the last 70 games dating back to the 2020 season.
• Ciara Bryan increased her season hits total to 66, a mark which presently ranks No. 2 nationally in Division I Softball. Last week Bryan reached 60 hits in her collegiate career for the first time and is now on the doorstep of 70 for the first time.
• The RBI double that brought in the game’s first run extended Kaitlyn Alderink’s current hitting streak to 11 games – her longest hit streak as a Ragin’ Cajun.
• During the 11-game hitting streak, Kaitlyn Alderink is batting a team-leading .516 (16-for-31) with 11 runs scored, eight doubles and seven RBI.
• With RBI singles in the first and second inning, Jade Gortarez picked up her 10th multiple-hit game and sixth multiple-RBI game of the season.
• Julie Rawls increased her season RBI total to 47, moving her within two RBI of her career-high total and on the verge of the first 50-RBI campaign of her collegiate career.
• Julie Rawls, who for the season is hitting an astounding .463 with runners in scoring position, has generated a team-leading 23 RBI in the month of April.
• Summer Ellyson was credited with the win giving her the 90th of her collegiate career. The Lafayette native owns a 90-21 career mark and is just the fifth Ragin’ Cajuns pitcher to reach 90 career wins, joining the likes of Brooke Mitchell, Kyla Hall, Ashley Brignac and Jordan Wallace.
• Summer Ellyson, undefeated in her last 15 appearances, stretched her personal win streak to 11 games with Tuesday’s decision. Since March 21, Ellyson is 11-0 with a 1.41 ERA over 69-1/3 innings pitched having yielded just 14 earned runs, 49 hits, a .191 average and struck out 77 batters.
• Over the last three appearances in the circle, starting with the Texas State series, Summer Ellyson has struck out 25 batters over 16 innings of work.
• Kandra Lamb turned in her 11th appearance in which she limited the opposition to two hits or less. For the season, Lamb leads the pitching staff with a .178 opposing batting average.
• Louisiana’s pitching staff posted its 14th shutout of the season and the fourth occurrence of consecutive shutouts (Feb. 26 vs. Buffalo, March 26-28 vs. South Alabama, April 5 vs. Lamar).
• The Ragin’ Cajuns pitching staff has now held foes to two runs or fewer in 25 of the 42 games played in the 2021 season.

UP NEXT
No. 13 Louisiana travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for a weekend showdown with No. 5 Alabama. The two nationally ranked squads are set to meet Saturday-Sunday, April 24-25 at Rhoads Stadium with first pitch set for 1:30 p.m. (CDT) each day.

Live video coverage is available through SEC Network Plus, and Ragin’ Cajuns fans can also follow along on SportsRadio ESPN 1420-AM and at CajunStats.com.

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