LAFAYETTE – Alex Stewart posted a season-high nine strikeouts in both games and the offense produced 17 runs in support of her as the No. 6-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns softball team swept a doubleheader from Texas Tech 6-2, 11-5 on Thursday at Lamson Park.
Louisiana (10-1) extended its win streak to four games with the sweep. Stewart (7-0, 2.00 ERA) remained undefeated on the young season.
Thursday's doubleheader kicked off four straight days of softball at Lamson Park. The Ragin' Cajuns are back in action at 4 p.m. on Friday vs. Rutgers, a contest which opens the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational tournament that runs through Sunday.
Aleah Craighton topped the Cajuns offensively against the Red Raiders (4-8), finishing 3-for-6 at the plate with a double, home run and doubleheader-high five RBI. Craighton picked up multiple RBI in both games – two RBI in the opener and three RBI in the finale – for her fourth and fifth multiple-RBI game of the season.
Lexie Elkins hit her team-and nation-leading ninth home run in Game 1 which upped her career total to 65, leaving her one shy of tying Gabriele Bridges for fourth place on the school's career chart. Elkins completed the night 3-for-4 at the plate and added a double, two RBI and three walks (two intentional) to her stat line.
Kelsey Vincent joined Craighton and Elkins in posting RBI in both ends of the doubleheader. Vincent tallied three RBI, the latter two on a two-run single in the sixth inning of Game 2 that increased Louisiana's lead to 9-5.
The Ragin' Cajuns trailed momentarily in the first contest when a Kierra Miles two-run home run put TTU up 2-1 in the fourth inning. Elkins, facing the school where she started her collegiate career in 2013, evened the score in the bottom half of the frame with a solo home run to left center.
Louisiana tacked on two more runs off of Red Raiders reliever Cheyene Powell for a 4-2 lead, as Craighton scored on the misplay of a DJ Sanders grounder and pinch hitter Miranda Grotenhuis forced home a run on a bases-loaded ground out.
Craighton provided Stewart with extra breathing room in the bottom of the fifth inning with a two-out, two-run homer over the right field fence.
The Red Raiders picked up a pair of two-out singles in the sixth inning, but Stewart ended the rally with her ninth and final strikeout of Game 1, and then closed out the victory by retiring the side in the seventh inning.
Louisiana built a 6-0 lead through the first two innings of the nightcap. The hosts benefitted from three walks in the first inning by TTU starter Dominque Alcocer, which set the stage for a four-run first inning, and grew the lead in the second inning on Shellie Landry's first Lamson Park home run of the 2016 season.
Trailing 7-1, the Red Raiders began chipping away at the deficit with a solo home run from Susan Welborn leading off the fifth inning. Miles posted her second home run of the twinbill to lead off the sixth inning, then a RBI single by Welborn and RBI double by Brooke Scott later in the inning cut the Cajuns lead to 7-5.
Mattison Maisel, who relieved Alcocer after Landry's second-inning homer, had limited Louisiana to one run in her three-plus innings of work. Vincent (single) and Craighton (double) delivered two-out hits that each plated two runs increasing the lead to 11-5 and chasing Maisel.
Thursday's doubleheader marked the first meeting between the two programs since the Feb. 2004 Mardi Gras Classic at Lamson Park. It was the first matchup in series history, which the Cajuns now lead 5-1, in a non-tournament setting.
No. 6 Louisiana improved to 5-1 on its current 10-game homestand which concludes Friday-Sunday, Feb. 26-28 with the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational featuring matchups with Rutgers and Alcorn State.