Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Louisiana-Lafayette
Northwestern Falls to Louisiana-Lafayette, 3-0
5/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 22, 2004
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Fresh off a dramatic, come-from-behind victory over South Carolina Friday night at the NCAA Arizona Regional, Northwestern was unable to keep up the momentum Saturday in a 3-0 loss to No. 9 Louisiana-Lafayette.
Northwestern closes its Regional tournament with a fourth place finish and its best record since 2000, when it also finished 2-2. The Wildcats are now 15-15 overall in seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
Eileen Canney started the game strong for Northwestern, striking out the side in the first inning. She took the loss despite striking out eight batters and giving up only one hit to the outfield, dropping her season record to 19-5.
"We had some moments in this tournament where we played great and some moments when we didn't," NU head coach Kate Drohan said. "Brooke Mitchell pitched a great game for Louisiana. She did a good job keeping us off balance."
Louisiana-Lafayette (57-7) pushed across the first run of the game in the bottom of third inning on a pair of slowly hit singles up the middle and a sacrifice bunt.
A triple by Ashley Evans following a walk brought another Cajun run home in the bottom of the fourth inning. Evans would score one batter later on a weak groundout to shortstop to push the Louisiana-Lafayette lead to 3-0.
Senior Carri Leto knocked a one-out single up the middle in the fifth inning, extending her team-best hitting streak to 19 games, but the 'Cats were unable to put anything together in the inning.
Leto closes her Northwestern career with the longest hitting streak during her four years on the team. She hit safely in 28 of the Wildcats' final 30 games of the season.
Senior J.C. Kira picked a runner off first base in the bottom of the fifth inning for the 122nd defense assist of her career -- extending her own Northwestern catcher record.
Senior shortstop Eryn Manahan recorded a pair of defensive assists in the game, upping her team-leading total to 97 on the season.
"Our experience this year got us a step closer to our goal of being a World Series team," Drohan said. "Our three seniors were a big part of that."
Mitchell, who has pitched 300 innings this season, picked up the win for Louisiana-Lafayette, upping her record to 43-4.
