BATON ROUGE — Having won 13 of their last 14 games, the fifth-ranked Tiger softball team will host Northwestern State in a non-conference doubleheader at Tiger Park on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
In their last outing, the Tigers (33-8) came from behind to defeat Southeastern Louisiana last Wednesday night, 4-3, on a pair of RBI doubles by Erin Johnson.
Pitcher Sarah Meadors picked up her fourth win of the season, going five innings and allowing three runs, before Kristin Schmidt came in and shut down the Lions in the sixth and the seventh.
Northwestern State (32-20) has won eight straight games, completing Southland Conference sweeps over Nicholls State and Stephen F. Austin on the road last week. During their current winning streak, the Demons have outscored opponents 57-8.
“It will be nice to play again after having a week off,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “As with all the in-state rivalries, Northwestern is a tough opponent and we have to be prepared to play. We beat them twice earlier in the year in close games, but they have been playing much better lately. We will have to give a good effort to defeat them.”
This will be the third time the teams have faced off this season. The pair met twice in the Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge to start the season.
In the first meeting, LSU defeated NSU, 3-1, as All-American Britni Sneed allowed just one run on four hits.
The Tigers scored runs in the third and fifth inning en route to the victory. In the third, Trena Peel walked and then stole second to get into scoring position with one out. After an April Janzen ground out advanced her to third, she scored when Christy Connor reached on an error.
Two innings later, Peel again led off the inning with a walk. A Janzen single moved her to third before she scored on freshman Tessa Lynam’s two-run single.
In the Tiger Classic Championship game, the Tigers prevailed 2-1, despite being outhit 10-4. LSU got all the offense it would need in the third inning as Peel and Aleshia Perry scored on errors by the Demon shortstop.
Northwestern scored in the fourth inning to cut the lead to one, but Peel threw the tying run out at home trying to score.
The Tigers will face Southern Miss in a doubleheader on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Tiger Park. The game was rescheduled after the March 27 doubleheader at Southern Miss was cancelled due to rain. The doubleheader scheduled for April 24 in Baton Rouge has been moved to Hattiesburg and set for 5 p.m.