LAS VEGAS — Christy Connor slapped a three-run homer over the centerfield wall in the fifth inning to give No. 4 LSU a 4-2 victory over No. 12 Nebraska on Friday morning in each team’s first game at the UNLV Invitational.
The Tigers improved to 6-1 while the Huskers fell to 4-2 on the year. Texas Tech (3-8), which lost to No. 2 UCLA in their first game of the tournament 13-2, meets LSU at 7:30 p.m. in the Tigers’ second game of the tournament.
LSU did all of its damage in the fifth inning. Pinch-hitter Leigh Ann Danos and Aleshia Perry led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Trena Peel then doubles home Jennie Reeves, who came into run for Danos.
Perry was tagged out trying to score on Megann Steege’s grounder to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. With Steege and Peel on the corners, Connor took the first pitch from reliever Peaches James deep. Centerfielder Kim Ogee had a chance to rob Conner, but was unable to hang on as she nearly fell over the fence.
Nebraska threatened in the seventh by putting runners on first and second with no outs as Britni Sneed walked Amber Burgess and Amanda Buchholz. Following a foul out by James, Liz Lawhorn slapped a single to left field to load the bases.
Sneed went the distance for LSU, allowing just four hits while striking out nine. She moves to 3-1 for the season. James, who came in relief of Leigh Ann Walker in the fifth, took the loss to fall to 1-2.
Burgess provided the Nebraska offense with a two-out two-run homer in the fourth inning. Leigh Suhr, who had walked earlier in the inning, came in on the blast.
Nebraska starter Leigh Ann Walker, who was the Big 12 Conference’s Co-PItcher of the Week last week, allowed her first two runs of the season after going 25 innings in 2002 without allowing a runner to cross the plate.
LAS VEGAS — The LSU softball team closed out a first-day sweep of the UNLV Softball Classic by shutting out the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 5-0, behind a team season-high 14-strikeout performance by sophomore All-American Kristin Schmidt on Friday night at the Desert Breeze Softball Park in Las Vegas.
LSU (7-1) scored four runs in the top of the third to take a commanding lead and never looked back. Meahwhile, Schmidt improved to 3-0 on the season while allowing only four hits and one walk in seven innings of work. This was her second shutout of the season.
Trena Peel hit her second triple of the game — tying a school record — in the third and scored on a mammouth home run to right center field by Christy Connor, her second of the day. Up 2-0, Lynam singled before Erin Johnson hit into a fielder’s choise. A Julie Wiese single put runners on first and third for Leigh Ann Danos, whose double scored Johnson. Blair Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Wiese scored on an error by the Red Raider shortstop for a 4-0 lead.
The Tigers tacked on another run in the top of the seventh after receiving two two-out walks before Leslie Barron scored on a single by Peel.
Texas Tech (3-9) only threatened Schmidt’s dominance once when, in the top of the fifth, the Red Raiders put runners on second and third with one out. The Notre Dame transfer reached down and came up with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning and Texas Tech’s hopes.
The losing pitcher for the Red Raiders was Amie Stines who fell to 0-4.
LSU continues play at the UNLV Softball Classic on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CST against UC-Riverside before taking on California at 7:30 p.m.