16th-ranked Ragin’ Cajuns total 27 base hits in doubleheader sweep, nearly half for extra bases

• GAME 1 BOX SCORE (PDF)
• GAME 2 BOX SCORE (PDF)

BEAUMONT, Texas – Nine individuals tallied multiple hits and 16th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball generated 13 extra base hits as a team during an 18-0, 10-0 doubleheader sweep of Lamar in run-rule fashion on Monday at the LU Softball Complex.
 
The sweep, which kicked off a stretch of three consecutive days of play in Texas, extended the current winning streak for Louisiana (27-6) to 12 games.
 
Jade Gortarez led the charge at the plate with three doubles and six RBI in the two-game set. Ciara Bryan delivered three of the Ragin’ Cajuns five triples off of Cardinals pitching, starting with a program-recording tying two triples in the opening game.
 
Casey Dixon worked five innings of scoreless softball throughout the day to lead a group of four Louisiana pitchers who blanked Lamar (4-32) over 10 innings.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns scored in every inning of Game 1 and broke free from the Cardinals in the second inning when four extra base hits led to the first big inning of the day, increasing the lead to 5-0.
 
The advantage reached double digits an inning later when Bryan’s second triple cleared the bases and Gortarez’s first run-scoring double brought in a pair of runs for an 11-0 edge.
 
Lamar’s lone threat came in the fourth inning when the first two batters reached base, but was quickly erased as Dixon struck out the next three that she faced.
 
Kandra Lamb held LU to two singles in three innings of work, striking out four as she picked up her team-leading 13th victory of the season.
 
In Game 2, Cardinals starting pitcher Shelby Mixon kept the Ragin’ Cajuns off-balance at the plate with a Karly Heath two-out RBI single being the lone run through the first two innings.
 
Louisiana began to pull away in the third inning when runs came in off the bats of Gortarez, Rawls, Justice Milz and Kaitlyn Alderink in succession opening up a 5-0 lead. Gortarez’s second two-run double of the twinbill came the next inning and upped the lead to 8-0 ensuring an early finish.
 
Dixon turned in another efficient effort in the circle, yielding only a single run over three innings after relieving Heath, then gave way to Vanessa Foreman who worked a perfect fifth inning to conclude the day.
 
DIAMOND NOTES

• Of the 27 base hits that Louisiana recorded in the doubleheader a total of 13 went for extra bases (7 doubles, 5 triples, 1 home run). The squad hit .482 on the day and generated a .839 slugging percentage.
• The nine (9) extra base hits Louisiana posted in Game 1 marked a new season-high total (previous was five at McNeese and Georgia State).
• Since the Georgia State series (April 2-3), the Ragin’ Cajuns have produced at least five extra base hits in three of the last five games. In that timeframe, the squad has collected 24 extra base hits (8 doubles, 5 triples, 11 home runs).
• Ciara Bryan became the first Ragin’ Cajun to triple twice in a game since Feb. 20, 2005 when Crystal George did so against Purdue.
• Julie Rawls made it four straight games with a home run when she launched a three-run home run in the fourth inning of Game 1.
• The three triples hit by Ciara Bryan increased her team-leading season total of extra base hits to 14 (7 doubles, 3 triples, 4 home runs).
• Kendall Talley picked up at least one hit in both ends of the doubleheader to extend her career-best hitting streak to 11 games. She is batting a team-leading .500 (15-for-30) during the streak with 14 runs scored and six RBI.
• Ciara Bryan kept alive her reached base streak which is now at a season-long 33 games. It’s the longest such streak by a Ragin’ Cajun since Kara Gremillion ended the 2017 season with a 47-game reached base streak.
• Ciara Bryan, who had a career-best, 17-game hitting streak from Feb. 26-March 28, is closing in on another double-digit streak. She’ll carry an eight-game streak to Huntsville.
• The Ragin’ Cajuns improved to 22-0 when scoring five or more runs, while the pitching staff collected its 11th and 12th shutouts of the season. Louisiana pitching has limited foes to two runs or less in 21 of the season’s 33 games.
• Louisiana’s current winning streak is the program’s longest since the record-setting 29-game streak posted in 2019.
• Monday’s doubleheader marked the Ragin’ Cajuns first trip to Beaumont since Lamar re-instated softball in 2013. The last prior trip came in April 1986 when both programs were members of the Southland Conference.

UP NEXT
No. 16 Louisiana continues the Texas portion of its 10-game Spring Break road trip on Tuesday, April 6 in Huntsville, Texas playing a 6:30 p.m. single game against Sam Houston State  (8-20) at the Bearkat Softball Complex.
 
Live coverage of the matchup with SHSU will be available at TalkRadio 960 AM and CajunStats.com.
 
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