BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The WKU softball team led #6/#7 Louisiana-Lafayette 2-0 early in Sunday's series finale at the WKU Softball Field, but the Ragin' Cajuns scored two runs in both the second and sixth innings to win 4-2. Senior infielder Amanda Walden hit her first home run of the season in the game.
WKU (28-23-1, 9-12-1 Sun Belt) flashed some great defense in the first inning. After Natalie Fernandez led off the game with a single for Louisiana-Lafayette (44-2, 19-2), Emily Rousseau struck out Nerissa Myers for the first out. She then struck out Christi Orgeron, with Kellie Quarles throwing out Myers stealing second to end the inning. The Lady Toppers got their offense going in the bottom of the first. Kelsie Mattox hit a one-out single to right centerfield. Karavin Dew then doubled to left field, bringing in Mattox to give WKU a 1-0 lead. Dew, however, got caught trying to stretch the double into a triple and was thrown out in a rundown. With two out, Walden hit a 3-2 pitch from Ashley Brignac over the fence in leftfield to make the score 2-0.
The Ragin' Cajuns came back to tie the game in the top of the second. Matte Haack led off with a single, but Rousseau struck out the next two batters. Rousseau hit Megan Granger with a pitch to give Louisiana-Lafayette runners at the corners. Paige Cormier cleared the bases with a two-RBI double, tying the game at 2-2. Erikka Murphy then singled to left field, but Mattox ended the inning by throwing out Cormier at home.
Jordan Wallace came in to pitch for Louisiana-Lafayette in the second inning, allowing just two base runners on a walk and hit by pitch in three innings. The Ragin' Cajuns broke the 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth. Christi Orgeron and Haack hit back-to-back singles leading off the inning. Sarah Draheim then hit a fly ball to deep right field that was caught by Laura Smith with the runners advancing. Mallorie Sulaski then came in to pitch for Rousseau. The first batter she faced was Brianna Cherry, who knocked a base hit up the leftfield line, scoring two runs to give Louisiana-Lafayette a 4-2 lead. Sulaski got WKU out of the inning by getting Granger to flyout and striking out Cormier.
WKU got its first hit of Wallace in the bottom of the sixth. Smith hit a two-out double to right center, but Wallace got Amanda Thomas to fly out to end the inning. Wallace then retired the side in the seventh to give the Ragin' Cajuns the weekend sweep.
The Lady Toppers were held to four hits in the game while the Ragin' Cajuns had nine hits. Fernandez, Haack, and Cherry each had two hits for Louisiana-Lafayette. Wallace moved her record to 23-0 on the season, pitching six scoreless innings in relief of Brignac. She struck out six batters and walked two, allowing one hit. Rousseau struck out six batters and allowed eight hits in 5.1 innings on Sunday.
WKU will wrap up it's 2012 home slate on Thursday, May 3rd with a 5 p.m. game against Evansville.
