BATON ROUGE — Trena Peel broke the SEC single-season triples record and Britni Sneed threw her third no hitter of the season as the fifth-ranked Tigers swept a doubleheader from Southern Miss, 10-0 and 2-0, on Thursday night at Tiger Park.
“It was definitely exciting out there tonight,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “Hitting is contagious and it certainly was in the first game. Britni threw well tonight and it was nice to see all the K’s out there.”
“Trena is such an awsome weapon and she hasn’t been hitting like she would like to in the last few weeks,” Girouard continued. “Since she had been struggling, she decided to slap hit more often and got both triples in the second game off slap hits. She battled through it, realized what she needed to do and she did it.”
The Tigers improve to 37-8 overall and have now won 17 of their last 18 games, while the Lady Eagles fall to 25-25 on the year. LSU now travels to Lexington, Ky., to face SEC-rival Kentucky in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon CT and concluding with a single game on Sunday at noon CT.
“I am concerned about going on the road to face Kentucky,” said Girouard. “They are a different team when they play at home. They took two out of three from Mississippi State and are a tougher team to beat at home.”
Sneed threw her third no-hitter of the season and the seventh complete-game no-hitter of her career, striking out 11 in the five-inning complete-game.
Sneed improved her season record to 20-5. There have now been 15 no-hitters in LSU history and Sneed has been involved in 10 of them.
The bid for the perfect game ended on the first batter as Sneed walked Amanda Brown to lead off the game. Brown’s stay on the base path was short when she was gunned down trying to steal second.
The Tigers struck for a run in the bottom of the first inning as Trena Peel led off with a single up the middle. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by April Janzen then scored on an RBI single by Erin Johnson.
LSU then exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning, recording seven hits, including four doubles. Megann Steege led off with a single up the middle then advanced to second on a Blair Smith walk. Jennie Reeves then nailed a triple to deep centerfield to score Steege and Smith.
After Peel popped out, Reeves scored on an illegal pitch by Lady Eagle pitcher Jessica Holaway. Janzen then singled to center field before Christy Connor doubled to score Janzen.
An Erin Johnson groundout moved Connor to third base before the Tigers let loose with a parade of doubles. Lynam’s double knocked in Connor and she advanced to third on a wild pitch. She then scored on a double by Julie Wiese. As the Tigers batted around, Steege doubled to score Wiese. A Blair Smith grounded ended the inning with LSU leading 8-0.
The Lady Eagles sent the minimum to the plate in the second and third before Sneed issued the second walk of the game in the third inning, ending a streak of eight consecutive strikeouts.
The Tigers added a pair in the bottom of the fourth inning. Connor nailed her second double of the night to left centerfield. After Sara Fitzgerald came in to pinch run for Connor, Johnson singled to left center and Fitzgerald scored from second.
With two outs, Steege tripled to right field and Johnson scored from second to run the score to the final of 10-0.
In the second game, the Tigers jumped out early. Peel hit her 11th triple of the season to centerfield, tying the SEC single-season record. After a Janzen walk and steal, Peel then scored on a wild pitch and Janzen advanced to third. Johnson also drew a walk.
On a controversial play, as Tessa Lynam struck out, Johnson stole second and an error by the catcher on the throw down allowed Janzen to score.
Unfortunately for LSU, the first base umpire ruled that Johnson left early from first and the play was dead, forcing Janzen to return to third with two outs. Wiese then struck out to end the inning.
Southern Miss got their first player in scoring position in the top of the second inning. Channika Gant led off with a single to left field. After a Schmidt strikeout, Laura Davis singled to left field and Gant advanced to second.
The runners advanced to second and third on a groundout by Diane Hammes, before Schmidt got Sarah Boyd to strike out to end the inning.
The Tigers added a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Blair Smith walked and then advanced to second on a groundout by Reeves.
Peel then nailed her second triple of the game and the 12th of the season to nearly the identical place in centerfield as Smith came around to score. With the pair of triples, she now has 25 triples in her career and ranks in the top 25 in NCAA history.
Kristin Schmidt earned the complete-game shutout victory, improving her record to 13-3 on the season. She allowed five hits while striking out 10 batters to earn her seventh shutout of the year.