BATON ROUGE — Louisiana-Lafayette benefited from four unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and ULL starter Micah Barbato retired the final 11 Tigers as the Lady Cajuns defeated LSU, 4-1, in the second game of the NCAA Regional’s second day.
This marked the first victory by ULL over LSU in Tiger Park in six all-time meetings.
ULL improved to 45-14 on the season and will advance to face Oregon at 4 p.m. Saturday. LSU fell to 57-12 on the season and plays the loser of tonight’s Southern Miss-Hofstra contest at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Barbato pitched a complete game while allowing five hits and striking out four without a walk.
LSU’s Ashley Lewis was then only batter to reach base in the first two innings, however, pinch runner Janell Deslattes was caught stealing second with two outs to end the inning.
Shante’ Fremin opened the top of the third inning with a single to right field and was pinch run for by Taryn Perry. After UL-Lafayette starter Micah Barbato struckout Jen Schuelke, Stacey Newton singled to left to put runners on first and second with one out. Dee Douglas executed a perfect bunt and beat out a throw to first to load the bases for Stephanie Hastings.
Hastings grounded sharply up the middle but ULL second baseman Michele Bailon made a diving stop to prevent the base hit and get Douglas out at second. Perry scored from third on the play to give LSU a 1-0 lead.
Barbato became ULL’s first base runner in the bottom of the third inning as she walked on a 3-2 count after blasting one of Lewis’ pitches over the left field fence about 10 feet foul. However, Jerie Alexander grounded out to first to end the threat.
Trailing 1-0, ULL’s Alana Addison doubled off the wall in right to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. After Tiffany Clark grounded out to second to advance Addison to third, Lewis struckout Jana Mower for the second out.
After a walk to Bailon, Michelle Hummel grounded to Hastings at second who dived to stop the ball but couldn’t get a handle on the ball to throw Hummel out at first. The error allowed Addison to score from third and tie the game 1-1. ULL then drove Lewis from the circle with an RBI single by Megan Fields to give the Lady Cajuns a 2-1 lead.
Britni Sneed, who won the first game of the regional, entered the game with two outs and runners on first and second in the bottom of the fourth.
The first batter Sneed faced, Summar Lapeyrouse, drove in two more runs with a double off the wall in right center to put ULL ahead 4-1.
The Tigers were unable to touch Barbato over the next three innings to fall into an elimination game.