LAFAYETTE, La. -- Two-out hitting and clutch pitching by Louisiana-Lafayette's Christina Hamilton led the Ragin' Cajuns to a 5-3 victory over Arizona in Game 1 of the Lafayette Super Regional on Friday night at Lamson Park.
In the complete-game victory, Hamilton (28-2) struck out four and walked four while allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned).
For Arizona (44-15), Estela Pinon (19-9) took the loss, going three innings and allowing five runs on five hits with a strikeout and four walks. Shelby Babcock pitched the final three innings and allowed no runs on one hit with two strikeouts and five walks.
Arizona and Louisiana-Lafayette (48-8-1) will meet tomorrow at noon Arizona time. The Wildcats will need to win the game to force the if-necessary third game at 5 p.m.
Arizona took the lead one batter into the game when Hallie Wilson sent her fourth homer of the postseason and second leadoff homer of the season over the right-field wall.
As the bottom of the first appeared to be coming to a close, a dropped foul tip resulted in an elongated at-bat for Samantha Walsh, who homered on the next pitch, a two-run shot that gave the Ragin' Cajuns a 2-1 lead after one.
The Cajuns added two more two-out runs in the bottom of the second on RBI hits from Natalie Fernandez and Haley Hayden to make it 4-1.
A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for Louisiana-Lafayette with one out in the third. Sara Corbello then hit a sacrifice fly to extend the margin to 5-1.
Three Babcock walks loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but she escaped the jam unscathed thanks to a popout and a groundout.
The Wildcats were unable to get anything going in the middle innings, as they left 10 runners on base in the contest.
With Arizona trailing 5-1 in the seventh, Kelsey Rodriguez led off the inning by reaching on a throwing error by the catcher on a bunt. Kellie Fox followed by belting her 15th homer of the year on a 1-0 pitch to pull the Wildcats to within 5-3 with no outs. After a pair of strikeouts, Mo Mercado reached on a single to center to bring the tying run to the plate, but a hard groundout by Lauren Young ended the rally and the game.
