Louisiana-Lafayette's Tiffany Grayson slammed two home runs on the day
and the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, pitcher Brooke Mitchell,
rebounded from a quick exit in the first game of the afternoon to toss
a complete game and lead the Ragin' Cajuns into the Women's College World
Series with a 6-4 victory over the Ducks on Sunday afternoon at the Titan
Softball Complex.
With the seven other regional championships already decided by the middle
of the day's first game, Louisiana-Lafayette completed the championship
tournament field, overcoming a 9-2 loss earlier in the day to the Ducks.
ULL improved to 47-9 overall and finished the regional with a 4-1 record.
Oregon ended its season at 37-19.
Jill Robertson got the Cajuns "Ragin' " in the opening frame,
sending the second pitch from Ducks starter Amy Harris over the centerfield
fence for the quick 1-0 lead. Catcher Joy Webre doubled in another run
two batters later to make it 2-0.
Louisiana-Lafayette kept it rolling when, two batters later, Grayson smacked
a three-run home run to right field, her sixth of the year, making it
5-0.
Erin Goodell cut into the Ragin' Cajuns' lead with a two-run, ground rule
double over the left field fence to shrink the deficit to 5-2, but Grayson
got one back with her seventh homer of the year, and her second of the
game, to centerfield making it 6-2.
The Ducks made things interesting in the seventh on a two-run home run
to right field by Lynsey Haij, cutting the deficit to 6-4. Oregon then
put runners on first and second with one out, but Mitchell got Jenn Poore
to foul out and got Janell Bergstrom to strikeout swinging to end the
game.
Mitchell (26-7) allowed three earned runs on 10 hits, walking three and
striking out four in the complete-game effort.
Harris (17-14) suffered the loss for Oregon, allowing three earned runs
on a pair of hits in just one-third of an inning pitched. Andrea Vidlund
pitched the final 5 2/3 innings, allowing a pair of runs on four hits
with four strikeouts.
OREGON HEAD COACH KATHY ARENDSEN "You had two teams with a lot of heart go at it. A lot of
credit goes to the Cajuns, they made the plays. Brooke Mitchell showed
what a great warrior she is, but I am so proud of our team that they came
back.
"We faced adversity and had chances, we had a long day, we left some
people on base. The seventh innings is always tough. We stepped up, we
got some runs, we put people in scoring position, and just couldn't come
up with that last big hit."
"Our seniors gave us a tremendous experience and I couldn't be more
proud of this ballclub. We really had a great year."
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE HEAD COACH STEFNI LOTIEF
On advancing to the Women's College World Series: "It's
a real good feeling. This has been a great year for these young ladies,
and what a special group of young ladies to come together and find a way
to always win."
On Brooke Mitchell's leaving early in game one: "She
had a little strain in her arm. She was in a little pain so we got her
out of the game and got it taken care of. She's not going to quit. The
kid will never quit."
On Tiffany Grayson's performance: "Tiffany comes
ready to play and it seems like the bigger the game, the bigger she plays.
For her, I think she had an outstanding tournament, two home runs in this
game and she made some great defensive plays earlier in the tournament
that really helped propel this team."
On rebounding after the loss: "I didn't have to
get them pumped up for the second game. They we're totally ready to go.
It doesn't come from us, it comes from themselves."
TOURNAMENT MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER BROOKE MITCHELL On advancing to the Women's College World Series: "It's
awesome. I don't know what else to say."
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE'S TIFFANY GRAYSON
On coming back after a game one loss: "I wasn't worried
about it. It was just another game. We were just out there having fun
together as a team."
On advancing to Oklahoma City: "It's beautiful.
It has been our goal all year to win the whole thing. We knew there would
be a lot of teams who would overlook us. When we came here we were ready
to go at people and they weren't ready to come at us."
REGION 6 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER Brooke Mitchell, P, Louisiana-Lafayette
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Brooke Mitchell, P, Louisiana-Lafayette
Jodie Cox, P/OF, Cal State Fullerton
Amber Hutchison, OF, Oregon
Andrea Vidlund, P/UT, Oregon
Lauren Bay, P/IF, Oklahoma State
Erin McDonald, P/UT, Boston University
Jamie Farley, C/IF, Rider University
Jenny Topping, C/IF, Cal State Fullerton
Erica Greenburg, C, Penn State
Barbie Pierce, IF, Penn State
Lynsey Haij, IF, Oregon
Anissa Meashintubby, P, Oregon
Becky McMurtry, IF, Louisiana-Lafayette
