Sunday’s Release:
BATON ROUGE – The No. 4 LSU softball team defeated the No. 10 Southern Miss Eagles 4-3 in eight innings to win the Purple and Gold Championship.
“This was the ugliest win I have ever been associated with, but we found a way to win and that is the important point,” said head coach Glenn Moore. “I think we have broken the Southern Miss curse, but we will see them again in two weeks at the Oklahoma tournament. We have a lot of tough competition between now and then, so we will come out and work hard to get ready to play in the Lead-Off Classic next week.”
The Tigers were 3-1 in the tournament prior to the championship game. Southern Miss defeated Alabama earlier Sunday, 8-0, in five innings to advance to the tournament championship with a 4-0 record.
Baylor and Alabama played for third place, with Baylor defeating Alabama A&M 8-0. It was scoreless until the top of the fourth when the designated hitter Erin Johnson singled to center field to get on base. Johnson then scored when catcher Kenya Peters singled to right field to pick up the RBI.
The Eagles led the Tigers 1-0 until the bottom of the seventh inning when designated hitter Ashley Lewis hit her third career home run to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
With the international tie breaker rule in effect, Southern Miss placed pinch runner Kendra Seals on second base, third baseman Amy Berman sent a ball out of Tiger Park to put the Eagles up 3-1.
Second baseman Stephanie Hastings was placed at second to start the top of the eighth for LSU. Shortstop Tara Asbill then singled to advance Hastings to third. Third baseman Ashlee Ducote picked up the RBI when she singled to center field, making the score 3-2. Right fielder Trena Peel then executed a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Center fielder Stacey Newton got the RBI that tied the game when she had a bunt single to score Asbill.
Lewis came across once again for the Tigers as she hit a RBI ground out to score Ducote to win the game 4-3.
It was a battle of the sophomore pitchers, Tiger Britni Sneed and Golden Eagle Felicia Gonzales. Sneed picked up her fifth win for LSU, striking out eight batter in the process. Gonzales gave up five hits to the Tigers and struck out five.
LSU will travel next weekend to the Lead-Off Classic in Columbus, Ga. to face Michigan, Hawaii and Boston College in pool play.
Game 8: Box Score
Southern Miss 8, Alabama A&M 0 (5 innings)
Game 9 Box Score
Baylor 8, Alabama A&M 0
Game 10 Box Score
LSU 4, Southern Miss 3 (8 innings)
Saturday’s Release:
BATON ROUGE — The fourth-ranked LSU softball team won two games on Saturday to advance to the championship game of the Purple and Gold Challenge on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Tigers defeated Alabama A&M 8-0 in five innings to start the day. In the semi-final, LSU beat Baylor 8-4, and will play the winner of the rain delayed Alabama A&M-Southern Mississippi semi-final game.
Southern Mississippi defeated Baylor 3-2 in eight innings in the last game of pool play.
Due to inclement weather, the delayed Alabama A&M-USM game, which was stopped by the thunderstorms which rolled through the Baton Rouge area after the completion of the top of the first inning, will continue at 9 a.m. with the consolation final following at 11 a.m. and the championship game at 1 p.m.
In the second inning of the first game of the day, LSU designated hitter Ashley Lewis singled to left field to begin the inning. Third baseman Megann Steege then reached on an error by Shawna Pena to advance Lewis to third. First baseman Britni Sneed then picked up the RBI, scoring Lewis. Sneed and Steege both advanced on a wild pitch, and Steege scored when left fielder Taryn Perry reached on a fielder s choice. Perry would later score on a bases loaded walk to Trena Peel, giving the giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead.
In the third, Sneed reached first on a fielder s choice and advanced to second when Perry singled to center field. Catcher Jennie Reeves picked up the RBI with a single to center field scoring Sneed, putting the Tigers ahead 4-0.
LSU wrapped up the game in the fifth as a Perry single drove in two runs and two more scored on a misplayed ball hit by Auburne Ziober. In the semi-final game against Baylor, shortstop Tara Asbill set the LSU career home run record with her 17th to put the Tigers ahead 1-0.
The record was originally set two years ago by Tyra Perry and equaled by Ashlee Ducote on Feb. 18. In the second inning, center fielder Stacey Newton reached first with a single to center field.
Pitcher Lewis followed with another single to center and Ziober scored Newton with a RBI single to left, to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Baylor answered back in the top of the third, scoring two runs to tie LSU 2-2. It was Newton and Lewis combining to open the LSU fourth with back-to-back singles and Shaunte’ Fremin picked up an RBI with a single, scoring Newton and an two ensuing errors would score pinch runner Taryn Perry and Fremin.
Baylor had one rally left in them, getting two runs on a Ryan Stukel home run to cut the margin to 5-4, but LSU got three more in the bottom of the sixth to easily advance to Sunday’s final game.
In the Baylor-USM game, Sarah Caudel and Courtney Blades went through seven scoreless innings before Baylor broke through in the top of the eighth with two runs. USM came back to tie and then Channika Gant hit a two-out solo home run to win the game.
Blades struck out 13 in earning her second win of the tournament.
Saturday’s Linescores
Purple and Gold Challenge
Game 5: LSU 8, Alabama A&M 0 Box Score
Alabama A&M 000 00 — 0 4 3
LSU 031 04 — 8 8 2
Shawna Pena and Odessa Brooks; Julie Stashko, Trena Peel (5) and Jennie Reeves. WP — Stashko (1-0). LP — Pena. T — 1:30. A — 150.
Game 6: Southern Miss 3, Baylor 2 Box Score
Baylor 000 000 02 — 2 7 2
Southern Miss 000 000 03 — 3 3 0
Sarah Caudle and Ryan Stukel. Courtney Blades and Kenya Peters. WP — Blades 11-3. LP — Caudle 2-3. T — 1:15. A — 115.
Game 7: LSU 8, Baylor 4
Baylor 002 002 0 — 4 5 3
LSU 110 303 — 8 12 0
Joni Miller and Ryan Stukel. Ashley Lewis, Britni Sneed (5) and Stephanie Hastings. WP — Lewis 5-2. LP — Miller 5-4. T — 1:48. A — 156.
Friday’s Release:
The LSU softball team opened day two of the Purple & Gold Challenge with a 8-0 victory over Alabama A&M Saturday morning at Tiger Park.
LSU improved to 11-2 on the season while Alabama A&M fell to 0-3.
The Tigers will play Baylor at 4 p.m. while Southern Miss plays Alabama A&M at 6 p.m. The winners will advance to the championship game Saunday at 12:30 p.m.
Southern Miss and Baylor are just underway for the final game of the round robin portion of the tournament.
The fourth-ranked LSU softball Tigers split two games on the first day of the tournament Friday, blasting Baylor, 10-0, in a five-inning shortened game before losing to 10th-ranked Southern Mississippi, 4-1, in the feature game of the day.
In the other games on the first day, Baylor (1-1) defeated Alabama A&M, 14-0, and Southern Miss (2-0) defeated A&M, 8-0.
The Tigers will play its final pool game at 10 a.m. on Saturday against Alabama A&M (0-2) and Southern Miss will meet Baylor at noon. The semifinals are set to begin at 4 p.m. and an LSU win would put LSU in that game as the second seed. The other semifinal, matching the one and four seeds will conclude the day’s play at 6 p.m.
Baton Rouge native Courtney Blades picked up the win for Southern Miss in the rematch of last year’s NCAA regional semifinal at Tiger Park. Blades (10-3) was dominant, allowing just four singles and one unearned run with 12 strikeouts.
The Tigers usually reliable defense failed them in the loss to USM, as just one of the four Golden Eagle runs were earned. In the second, Jennifer Collins was hit by a pitch with two out and advanced to second on a Dalenah Tanner single. The Golden Eagles sent Collins on a steal from second and Jennifer Schuelke’s throw to third to get the lead runner ended up in left field and Collins advanced home for a 1-0 lead.
The big Southern Miss blow came in the third when Erin Johnson doubled to drive in two runs, one which had reached on an error to give USM a 3-0 cushion. LSU got its lone run in the bottom of the sixth when Shaunte’ Fremin singled to left field, sending Ashlee Ducote home.
In the Tigers’ opening game, a six-run first inning was all LSU (10-2) needed as the Tigers pounded out 16 hits in the shortened game. Britni Sneed pitched three innings and allowed just one hit, while striking out four in running her record to 4-0. Ducote had an RBI single, Stacey Newton a two-RBI double, Fremin a two RBI single and Auburne Ziober a run-scoring single to drive in the six runs.
Southern Miss pitcher Felicia Gonzales pitched a five-inning no-hitter against Alabama A&M in the Golden Eagles early win on Friday. Gonzales (1-2) struck out 13 batters and walked three.
Baylor pitcher Joni Miller also had a good outing against A&M, pitching a one-hit shutout in her win, running her record to 5-3.
LINESCORES
GAME 1 Box Score
Baylor 217 40 — 14 15 1
Alabama A&M 000 00 — 0 1 4
Joni Miller and Ryan Stukel, Jennifer Polk. Odessa Brooks and Jaime Carruthers. WP — Miller (5-3). LP — Brooks (0-1). T — 1:17. A — 25.
GAME 2 Box Score
Alabama A&M 000 00 — 0 0 4
Southern Miss 501 2x — 8 7 0
Shawn Pena and Jaime Carruthers. Felicia Gonzales and Kenya Peters, Julie Reynaud. WP — Gonzales (1-2). LP — Pena (0-1). T -1:23. A — 76.
GAME 3 Box Score
LSU 611 20 — 10 16 0
Baylor 000 00 — 0 1 1
Britni Sneed, Julie Stashko (4) and Jennifer Schuelke, Jennie Reeves. Carrie Arn, Joni Miller (4) and Ryan Stukel. WP — Sneed (4-0). LP — Arn (2-2). T-1:17. A-228.
GAME 4 Box Score
Southern Miss 012 000 1 — 4 5 2
LSU 000 001 0 — 1 4 3
Courtney Blades and Kenya Peters. Ashley Lewis and Jennifer Schuelke. WP — Blades (10-2). LP — Lewis. T — 2:35. A — 487.