BATON ROUGE — LSU sophomore pitcher Britni Sneed broke her own record for strikeouts in a game Saturday to highlight LSU’s three victories in the season-opening Tiger Classic at Tiger Park.
LSU on the day defeated Nicholls State, 3-0, McNeese State 3-0 and dropped Ohio State 11-0 in a five-inning shortened game in a battle of undefeated teams in the tournament.
The Tigers (3-0) will play in the first semifinal game at 9 a.m. against McNeese State (0-3), while Ohio State (2-1) will Nicholls State (1-2) in the 11 a.m. semifinal. The two semifinal losers play at Tiger Park at 1 p.m. with the championship game to follow at 3 p.m.
In the other games on Saturday, Ohio State beat McNeese State, 5-3 and the Buckeyes downed Nicholls State 6-0 on a no-hitter by sophomore Kristi Martin. In the nightcap, Nicholls after tying the game got three runs in the top of the eighth and hung on to win, 6-4, over McNeese State.
Sneed struck out 13 batters in six innings in the 3-0 win over McNeese State. The previous record was 12 against Bowling Green on March 11, 1999. Sneed allowed just one hit in the game, a single by Missy Paul in the fifth inning.
LSU jumped on McNeese State early in the game, getting RBI hits from Tara Asbill and Ashlee Ducote for a two-run first inning and got an unearned run in the second.
In the opener for the Tigers, it was again early runs which propelled LSU to its win over Nicholls State. In the first inning, a wild pitch scored Stephanie Hastings and then LSU plated two in the second inning when Jennifer Schuelke singled and Hastings doubled to drive in runs. Ashley Lewis went six innings in the contest to pick up her first win of the year.
Lewis picked up her second win of the year in the battle of the two undefeated teams (LSU and Ohio State), going just three innings, striking out three and allowing no hits. LSU pounded the 2-1 Buckeyes for three runs in each of the first two innings, one in the third and four in the fourth with LSU getting 11 hits.
Sophomore Trena Peel had the first home run of the year for LSU in the fourth, scoring Ducote ahead of her. Asbill, Ziober, Ducote and Megann Steege also had RBI in the contest. Dee Douglas was 3-for-3 at the plate and for the three games the SEC stolen base leader of a year ago had two successful steals.
I thought we came out a little tense at the start of the day,” said LSU Coach Glenn Moore. “It’s not very unusual to start the year out that way. The players are very excited. They came out and made adjustments. We didn’t come out and hit the ball early as well as I thought we would. Ohio State threw some pretty good pitching at us and we made great adjustments. So as the day wore on, we got better each game.”
Martin’s no-hitter for Ohio State in the win over McNeese State game was the first of her career and the sophomore was making her return after being redshirted last season because of elbow surgery.
Tiger Classic Linescores
Game 1 Box Score
Nicholls St. 000 000 0 — 0 1 0
LSU 120 000 x — 3 8 1
Duffi Matherne and Nicole Stewart. Ashley Lewis, Julie Stashko (7) and Jennifer Schuelke, Jenne Reeves (7). WP — Lewis (1-0). LP — Matherne (0-1). LOB — Nicholls St. 5, LSU 8. 2B — Stephanie Hastings; Shaunte’ Fremin. 3B — Dee Douglas. SB — Douglas, Ashlee Ducote, Stacey Newton. Team Records: LSU 1-0; Nicholl State 0-3. Time — 1:35. A — 371
Game 2
McNeese St. 000 003 0 — 3 7 2
Ohio State 101 201 x — 5 9 1
Crystal Bolyard, Kelly Meche (5) and Katie Trout. Toni Hileman, Katie Chain (6) and Stacey Roth. WP — Hileman (1-0). LP — Bolyard (0-1). LOB — McNeese 5, Ohio State 9. 2B — Tania Zanet; Stacey Roth; Sarah West. SB — Jamie Manuel; Missy Paul; Anna Smith 3; English 2. Team Records: McNeese State 0-1; Ohio State 1-0. Time: 2:06. A — 88.
Game 3
Ohio State 320 001 0 — 6 9 1
Nicholls State 000 000 0 — 0 0 0
Kristi Martin and Stacey Roth. Kayci Keller and Nicole Stewart. WP — Martin (1-0). LP — Keller (0-1). LOB — Ohio State 6, Nicholls State 2. SB — Smith 2, English; Link; Martin; Paray. Team Records: Ohio State 2-0; Nicholls State 0-4. Time: 1:50. A — 284.
Game 4 Box Score
LSU 210 000 0 — 3 5 0
McNeese State 000 000 0 — 0 1 2
Britni Sneed, Trena Peel (7) and Jennifer Schuelke, Jennie Reeves (7). Ivy Richardson and Katie Trout. WP — Sneed (1-0). LP — Richardson (0-1). LOB — LSU 4, McNeese 1. 2B — Asbill. SB — Douglas, Peel. Team Records: LSU 2-0. McNeese State 0-2. T — 1:24. A — 566.
Game 5 Box Score
Ohio State 000 00 — 0 1 3
LSU 331 4x — 11 11 0
Katie Chain, Jenn Elwell (4) and Stacey Roth. Ashley Lewis, Julie Stashko and Jennie Reeves, Megann Steege (4). WP — Lewis (2-0). LP — Chain (0-1). LOB — Ohio State 1, LSU 2. 2B — Asbill, Ducote. HR — Peel (one on, fourth inning). Team Records: LSU 3-0. Ohio State 2-1. T — 1:15. A — 374.