Cajuns Take Game One From Trojans 4-2

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns softball team opened up the three gamevSun Belt Conference tilt with a 4-2 victory over the Troy Trojans.

Donna Bourgeois picked up her 21st victory of the season, tossing a complete game. She surrendered a pair of runs, but just one earned run. Bourgeois struck out eight batters without allowing a walk. She faced five batters over the minimum, surrendering four hits. Bourgeois had a perfect game with two outs in the fourth inning until a single by the Trojans.

Offensively, Vallie Gaspard andErikka Murphy each had a pair of hits. Gaspard drove in a pair of runs in the second and Melissa Verde drove in the other two runs with a double in the fourth inning.

The Cajuns broke the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the second inning. With two outs, Lana Bowers reached base as she was hit by a pitch. Kelly Cormier followed with a single to short and Erikka Murphy loaded the bases with a second infield single. Gaspard singled to left center field to score Bowers and Cormier and give the Cajuns a 2-0 lead.

Louisiana added two more runs in the fourth inning on a Verde double. Cormier reached base on a fielding error by the Trojans. Murphy followed with a single to give UL a pair of base runners. Gaspard followed with an infield single to load the bases. Following a line out to short, Verde hit a line drive down the right field line to score two and increase the Cajuns’ lead to 4-0.

Troy cut the Cajuns’ lead by one with a run in the top of the fifth inning. Heidi Johnson hit a solo home run to center field to become the first player this season to hit a home off of Bourgeois. The home run was just the third allowed by Bourgeois in her two-year career and just the fifth allowed by UL this season (first in Sun Belt Conference play).

The Trojans added a run in the top of the seventh, but Bourgeois closed out the game with her eighth strikeout of the game to secure the victory.