LAFAYETTE – Kandra Lamb pitched her first career collegiate perfect game and the offense scored in bunches immediately after the first inning to lead the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Softball team to a 10-0 (5 inn.) win over UT Arlington on Saturday, March 26 at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park.
The run-rule win, which followed up Friday's 9-1 (6 inn.) run-rule, clinched the weekend series victory for Louisiana (19-8, 6-2 Sun Belt) – the program's nation-leading 67th consecutive conference series won, an impressive streak which dates back to March 2013.
Lamb (6-4, 2.20 ERA) struck out the first two UTA batters that she faced in beginning to chart the path to the perfect outing. She finished with five strikeouts, had only two three-ball counts, and needed just 60 pitches to complete her third no-hitter of the season and fifth overall of her career.
Louisiana wasted no time in grabbing hold of the lead as Maddie Hayden started the game with a walk, picked up two stolen bases to reach third, and scored on a Sophie Piskos grounder.
The Ragin' Cajuns distanced themselves from the Mavericks (11-13, 3-5 Sun Belt) in their next at-bat, getting a two-run home run from Melissa Mayeux and a two-run double from Piskos to fuel a five-run eruption that opened a 6-0 lead.
Mayeux and Kayla Falterman greeted reliever Jessica Adams with a pair of one-out singles in the third inning to put Louisiana's offense in motion once again. The Ragin' Cajuns pushed across four more runs to set up the early exit from the afternoon contest.
Lamb's performance continued the resurgence of the Ragin' Cajuns pitching staff. In the series, the group has held the Mavericks to a single run, five base hits, and a .139 average over 11 innings.
Mayeux (2-for-2, HR, 2 RBI) homered for the second straight day. Piskos posted her third consecutive game of multiple RBI, having now totaled nine RBI since the Georgia Southern series finale.
Each of the last five wins for Louisiana have come by the run-rule margin, outscoring foes 51-5.
NUMBERS TO KNEAUX
1: First career perfect game for Kandra Lamb in her collegiate career.
2: Melissa Mayeux has two home runs on the season – both coming in the UT Arlington series.
3: Third no-hitter of the season for Kandra Lamb.
5: Fifth no-hitter, overall, in her collegiate career for Kandra Lamb.
5: Louisiana's last five wins have all come via the run rule.
6: Sophie Piskos picked up her sixth multiple-RBI game of the season, moving into a tie with Stormy Kotzelnick for the team lead.
9: Number of RBI that Sophie Piskos has recorded in the past three games.
18-0: Louisiana improved to 18-0 when scoring first in the 2022 season.
20: Sophie Piskos added three more RBI to her season total, a figure which now stands at 20 RBI in only 62 plate appearances.
.400: For the seventh consecutive Sun Belt Conference game, Louisiana's offense turned in a .400-plus average. The squad finished 9-for-21 (.429) at the plate on Saturday afternoon.
.415: The Ragin' Cajuns are batting .415 in Sun Belt Conference play.
43: Through eight games in Sun Belt play the Ragin' Cajuns have posted 43 extra-base hits.
51-5: Louisiana's run-scored margin over the opposition in its last five wins – all run-rule victories.
67: For the 67th consecutive Sun Belt Conference series, Louisiana came away with the series win.
72: The offensive output increased Louisiana's total number of runs scored through the first eight games of Sun Belt play to 72 (9.0 runs scored per game).
3,285: Number of days that have passed since Louisiana's streak of Sun Belt series won began back on March 29, 2013 with a doubleheader sweep of FIU at Lamson Park.
UP NEXT
Louisiana goes for its first Sun Belt Conference series sweep of the 2022 season on Sunday, March 27 when the squad completes its series with UT Arlington. First pitch is slated for 12:00 p.m.
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