University of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ at Lafayette co-head softball coaches Stefni and Michael Lotief announced on Wednesday the signing of one of the nation’s top pitching prospects to a National Letter of Intent for the 2008 season.
Ashley Brignac, last year’s ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Miss Softball, signed on to be a part of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ incoming freshman class for the Fall 2007 semester.
Brignac is currently a senior pitcher at John Curtis High School in River Ridge, La.
She has posted 30-plus victories, 400-plus strikeouts and 20-plus shutouts in the past two seasons helping lead John Curtis to two state championships.
She was recently selected to the 2006 USA Softball Junior Women's National team.
She was 30-1 last season with an earned run average of 0.00. Brignac struck out 491 of the 639 batters that she faced as a junior, allowing only 26 hits and 19 walks in 196 innings. She tossed 26 shutouts and 11 no-hitters of which nine were perfect games
Brignac also made an impact at the plate. She hit .442 with 12 home runs and 33 RBI to go with 18 stolen bases.
Honors were plenty for Brignac after the stellar campaign. She was named the state’s Class 2A Outstanding Player, the state’s softball Gatorade Player of the Year, the District 10-2A MVP and was selected MVP of the All-East Bank and Metro teams.
Brignac’s breakout season came as a sophomore in 2005. She posted a 31-3 record with a 0.19 ERA all while collecting 466 strikeouts and 24 shutouts.
Combined with the numbers from her freshman season, Brignac is 67-4 overall with 1,033 career strikeouts, 56 career shutouts and 16 career perfect games.