BATON ROUGE — Despite throwing a no-hitter through seven innings in the first game, the LSU softball dropped a doubleheader to 10th-ranked Tennessee, 1-0 in nine innings, and 3-0, in Southeastern Conference play on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Park.
In front of the crowd of 1,020 for “Pack the Park” weekend, the Tigers (30-20, 12-17 SEC) could not capitalize on their opportunities in the first game and never got their bats going in game two as LSU fell to seventh place in the conference standings. The Lady Vols (54-11, 18-8 SEC) secured fourth place in the league standings and a fourth-place seeding the SEC Tournament next weekend.
The pair will complete the three-game series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be aired on FSN Southwest as part of SEC-TV in Baton Rouge on cable channel 38. The game will also be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network in Baton Rouge on Country Legends 107.3 FM and on the internet at www.LSUsports.net.
“I was extremely proud of the way the team came out in the first game,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We had every opportunity to win, but we just didn’t get it done.”
Sophomore Emily Turner had a no-hitter going through seven innings, facing the minimum with only one runner reaching base after a passed ball on a strikeout in the first inning. She then allowed two singles with two outs in the top of the eighth before getting a pop out to end the inning. Two hits and a pair of sacrifice bunts scored the game-winning run in the top of the ninth inning for Tennessee.
For the game, Turner allowed just one run on four hits with 12 strikeouts in the complete-game effort. Despite her outstanding performance, she dropped to 16-13 on the year.
Conversely, 2004 SEC Pitcher of the Year Monica Abbott threw a nine-inning complete-game shutout for Tennessee to improve to 38-7 on the season. She allowed three hits with two walks while recording 10 strikeouts.
The Tigers put runners on base in the fourth through seventh innings, stranding five with three in scoring position. LSU also stranded the tying run at first in the bottom of the ninth.
“When you have two pitchers that were throwing as well as Turner and Abbott threw, it comes down to who executes,” said Girouard. “Tennessee did and we didn’t in the first game.”
In the second game, the Tiger bats could not get anything going. LSU recorded just three hits, including a 2-for-3 performance by Lauren Castle.
“We seemed a little bit flat in the second game, although I’m not sure why, and it looked like we used everything we had in the first game,” said Girouard. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively. I thought that (Megan) Rhodes pitched well for them and their pitchers did a good job on the day.
“I guess the one thing I am disappointed with is that we didn