BATON ROUGE — The third-ranked LSU softball team split a Southeastern Conference doubleheader with Auburn, winning 8-0 in five innings before falling 2-1 on a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning, on Wednesday night in Tiger Park.
The loss broke LSU’s (46-9, 24-4 SEC) season-best 16-game winning streak as the Tigers will now try to clinch their fourth straight SEC championship on Thursday afternoon in the series finale at 3 p.m. Auburn moved to 34-22 overall and 12-14 in the SEC.
“Tomorrow’s game is our destiny,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We can not allow another team to come in here and take the SEC Championship away from us.
Auburn got only its second baserunner of the game the top of the seventh when starting pitcher Kristin Schmidt walked Kelly Sutton to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Kasey Angulo sent Sutton to second base.
Britni Sneed came on in relief of Schmidt with one out to face designated player Sara Dean. With Sutton aboard, Dean nailed the one-two pitch over the left field fence to give Auburn the 2-1 lead, their first runs of the game.
The Tigers tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Blair Smith, Trena Peel and April Janzen hit back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases, but LSU could not push the tying run across the plate. Christy Connor hit a shallow fly ball to center field that was not deep enough to score Smith from third and Erin Johnson nailed a line drive to centerfield that Ashley Moore caught on her knees to end the game.
“We expected Britni to come in and get a couple of strikeouts and end the game, but that is not what happened,” said Girouard. “Kristin threw a great game, but I had decided that if she got into any trouble I was going to pull her.
“We have had the same problem all year. We put one run on the board and just let the other team hang around. This time we ran into disaster. We had the right people at the plate in the seventh inning, but we just couldn’t get it done. Now it all comes down to tomorrow.”
LSU took the early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Trena Peel was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. She advanced to third on consecutive groundouts by April Janzen and Christy Connor. Erin Johnson then knocked an RBI single up the middle that scored Janzen from third to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead.
Schmidt had her bid for the perfect game broken up in the top of the fifth inning. With one out Deni Zeigler singled to right centerfield, but a spectacular catch by Megann Steege on a line shot in foul territory down the left field line and a groundout to Schmidt ended the inning.
Sneed took the loss for LSU in game two, only her second SEC loss in two years, dropping her record to 26-6 on the season. She pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts.
Schmidt went six and a third innings, allowing one run on one hit on with one walk while striking out 11 Auburn batters.
In the first game, Sneed struck out 13 in the five-inning complete-game shutout victory. She allowed just two hits and walked none for her 19th shutout of the season.
Both Connor and Janzen turned in 3-for-3 performances from the plate as the Tigers tallied 12 hits. Johnson and Julie Wiese each added 2-for-3 performances with a double apiece.
The Tigers jumped all over Auburn early, putting up three runs in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Janzen singled and advanced to second on an error by the Auburn leftfielder. After a Connor single advanced Janzen to third, Tessa Lynam walked to load the bases.
Johnson then knocked an RBI single to left field that scored Janzen from third as the bases remained loaded. After a Wiese groundout, Leigh Ann Danos drew the bases loaded walk to score Connor. Lynam then scored on a wild pitch to give LSU the 3-0 lead.
Auburn broke up the no-hitter in the top of the third inning. With two outs, Shannon Anderson hit a bloop single to the third baseman, but was stranded at first as Sneed struck out Ashley Moore to end the inning.
The Tigers then added a run in the bottom of the third inning. Johnson led off the inning with a double down the right field line. Johnson advanced to third on a bunt single by Wiese. On a pop out by Blair Smith, Johnson scored on an error by the catcher as she threw the ball away on a throw down to third base trying to get Johnson going back to third.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, LSU added three more. Peel led off with a single before an RBI double by Janzen scored Peel from first. A single by Connor advanced Janzen to third before Auburn’s Tracy Murdock came on in relief of starting pitcher Jen Lofton.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Auburn got its only other hit of the game. Martha Phillips singled to left field before Sneed hit Jodie Van Ooyen to advance Phillips to second. A Sneed strikeout and a groundout to third base ended the inning and the threat.
Lynam fouled out to the first baseman for a sacrifice fly that scored Janzen and advanced Braggins, pinch running for Connor, to second. She advanced to third on a ground out by Johnson and scored on a double by Weise that gave the Tigers the 7-0 lead.
LSU finished the run-rule win in the bottom of the fifth inning. After a leadoff walk by Blair Smith, she advanced to second on a wild pitch. A double by Peel to right centerfield scored Smith and gave the Tigers the 8-0 win.