March 17, 2011
FULLERTON, Calif. – A pair of fourth-inning home runs vaulted No. 19 Louisiana-Lafayette out of a 1-0 hole en route to a 5-1 non-conference win over the Notre Dame softball team Thursday at Anderson Family Field. Notre Dame’s second straight loss at the Judi Garman Classic dropped its overall record to 15-4 and 6-6 all-time on St. Patrick’s Day.
The Irish lost their 1-0 lead as the Ragin’ Cajuns (22-3) relied on nine hits and two multi-run innings for the win.
Ashley Brignac (10-1) tossed 7.0 innings and surrendered one earned run on six hits with seven strikeouts.
Shouldering the loss for Notre Dame was Jody Valdivia (5-3) after 3.2 innings or work which resulted in five hits and three earned runs.
Katie Fleury doubled in a scoreless first inning for the Irish, who plated their first run in the third. That happened when Kasey O’Connor drew a walk, moved to second on an illegal pitch and then to third on an Alexa Maldonado sacrifice bunt. After two called strikes on the far corner, Fleury went opposite field on another outside offering to drive in O’Connor.
Fleury would go 3-for-3 from the dish one day after celebrating her 22nd birthday.
Christi Orgeron followed Gabrielle Bridges’ double with a two-run homer in the fourth to put ULL on top, 2-1. Three batters later, Paige Cormier added a two-out solo dinger to left which prompted Laura Winter to relieve Valdivia to the circle.
Winter would finish the final 3.1 innings. She gave up two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts.
Bridges added an RBI-single in the fifth, followed by an RBI-single by Orgeron to make it a 5-1 game. Orgeron’s single was the fourth hit of the inning for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Fleury’s next hit was good for a sixth-inning single to center. Heather Johnson was replaced on first by Kelsey Thornton after dribbling an infield single to put two on base for Dani Miller. Miller advanced both runners with a groundout. Amy Buntin and Alexia Clay were then retired to end the threat.
Orgeron had three hits and three RBI to pace Louisiana-Lafayette. Nerissa Myers and Bridges each had two hits.
–ND–