By Malcolm Butler
As UL-Lafayette catcher Victoria Valdez started her trot around the bases following her second inning home run Wednesday night, she starred into the Louisiana Tech dugout and put her finger over her lips as if to quiet the Bulldogs.
Instead, all Valdez did was wake up the Bulldogs.
There is something to be said about letting sleeping dogs lie.
Tech sophomore Alannah Rogers hit a three-run home run and drove in another run with an RBI single to silence the Ragin’ Cajuns and give the Bulldogs a 5-3 win, snapping a 31-game losing streak against UL-Lafayette.
“I liked our battle,” said head coach Josh Taylor. “We were down 3-0 in the third, and the message was simple. Quit complicating it. Your pitchers have been picking you up all year, and now its time for us to pick up our pitchers. And the very next inning, (Rogers) hits the three-run homer and we find a way to tack on another couple of runs. Our offense responded.”
The win snapped UL-Lafayette’s nine-game winning streak, which included a victory over then No. 1 Oklahoma — breaking the Sooners 71-game winning streak.
Rogers shot over the right field wall in the bottom the third was the first of her collegiate career, erasing the Ragin’ Cajuns lead and tying the score at 3-3. Tech would add a fourth run in the frame on a throwing error by ULL shortstop Cecilia Vasquez and then Rogers drove in the final run with an RBI single in the fourth to help lead the Bulldogs (20-5) to the 20th win of the season.
“All of us as a team wanted to win,” said Rogers. “I just went up (to the plate) knowing I could have fun and be loose and have a good time. I just wanted to do anything I could to get a run across for my team.”
Rogers succeed, sending the 0-1 offering from Ragin’ Cajuns ace Sam Landry off the top of the right field wall for the three-run blast.
While the Tech bats were doing enough to rally, the Bulldog arms silenced ULL (18-13) over the final four innings.
Three Bulldog pitchers combined to keep the Ragin’ Cajuns bats relatively quiet, including a combined 4.0 scoreless innings of relief from Lauren Menzina and Brook Melnychuk. Menzina got the win, allowing no runs on three hits and no walks in 2.2 innings of action while Melnychuk picked up her second save of the season working the final 1.1 innings.
“I think our defense more than anything gives me a lot of confidence,” said Menzina. “Just trusting our defense was the key thing for me. It keeps me calm and keeps me grounded during tough situations like that.”
Taylor was pleased with Menzina’s performance.
“Lauren was able to give us more than we had counted on in this one,” said Taylor. “She gave us one time through the order. We let her go a couple of extra batters. She controlled the ball down and got ground balls. She did exactly what we asked her to do, and she has been doing that all year. Lauren went out there and did what she does and threw that drop ball over and over again at the bottom of the zone.”
Melnychuk came on in a crucial situation and the Tech lead in jeopardy, inducing a ground ball out with runners on second and third and two outs to end the top of the sixth. She then retired three of the four batters she faced in the seventh to secure the victory.
Tech’s last win over the Ragin’ Cajuns came in 1998, something that wasn’t lost on the Bulldog players.
“It felt really good (to win),” said Menzina. “It felt awesome, especially growing up and watching these two teams go head to head. To constantly having the trend of barely losing some of these games to them … to come out on top tonight made me a little emotional.”
The Bulldogs will host WKU this weekend in a three-game Conference USA series at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field with single games Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (noon).
Taylor said he feels his team can use some of the momentum from the win against a talented Hilltoppers team that is currently tied with Tech and Liberty for first place in the league standings.
“It’s a big win for us especially coming off how we played on Sunday (at Middle Tennessee),” said Taylor. “To come home and beat a team that is receiving votes (in the top 25), a team that beat the No. 1 team in the nation in Oklahoma earlier this year … nothing but confidence can come out of this.”
