Thursday, May 20, 2004

TUCSON, Ariz. – Clutch two-out hitting by the offense combined with another dominating performance from junior ace hurler Brooke Mitchell led the fifth-seeded Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns softball team (56-6) to a 1-0 win over fourth-seeded USC (27-23) here Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Regional No. 1 opener at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Mitchell (42-3), who picked up her 20th consecutive victory, struck out eight Gamecock batters and tossed a complete-game, one-hit shutout while Danyele Gomez brought home the winning run with a two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh.

The offense put together seven hits as the ninth-ranked Cajuns pushed their win streak to 15 games and moved within one win of tying the program record for wins.

For Mitchell it was her 12th solo shutout of the season as she extended her streak of consecutive innings without an earned run allowed to 25 2/3 innings. The Pasadena, Texas, native collected her fourth career NCAA Regional shutout.

Gomez, who scored Holly Tankersley for her 48th RBI of the season, joined Ashley Evans with a team-high two hits. Gomez was 2-for-4 while Evans followed with a 2-for-3 performance. A total of five players combined for the seven hits.

“Obviously, it was a team effort,