BATON ROUGE — With a 5-0 shutout of Auburn, the LSU softball team clinched their fourth straight Southeastern Conference title Thursday afternoon at Tiger Park.
LSU (47-9, 25-4 SEC) bounced back from a 2-1 loss to Auburn (34-23, 12-15 SEC) in the nightcap on Wednesday to take the series from the visiting Tigers to win its 19th straight three-game conference series.
Taking two-of-three from Auburn, LSU concludes the regular season no worse that one-half game ahead of Alabama in the SEC Western Division and the SEC overall title races and will earn the top seed in the SEC Tournament next week in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Crimson Tide still has three games remaining against Auburn this weekend.
“We got the job done today with our backs against the wall,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We were not going to let anyone come in and take away the championship on our home field.
“This team has been under a lot of pressure this season to reach some very high expectations and at times we have stumbled under that pressure, but today we fought through it and won SEC Championship. Winning four straight titles just goes to show that LSU softball is awesome.”
All-American Britni Sneed got the complete-game shutout victory, her 20th shutout of the season. She allowed four hits while striking out 13 Auburn batters. She is now just three strikeouts behind former Louisiana-Monroe pitcher Sarah Dawson in fifth place on the NCAA Division I career strikeout list.
LSU got a pair in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff single by Trena Peel, she advanced to second on a wild pitch. April Janzen walked and Peel advanced to third on an illegal pitch to put runners on first and third with no outs.
After April Janzen advanced to second on a catcher’s indifference with two outs, an RBI groundout by Erin Johnson scored Peel and advanced Janzen to third. Tessa Lynam then singled to left field to score Janzen from third and give LSU the 2-0 lead.
Auburn threatened in the top of the second inning. With one out, Paige Jones came in to replace the injured Tiger catcher Deni Zeigler and hit a double to right field that Johnson lost in the sun. Martha Phillips then nailed a line shot single off of Julie Wiese’s glove at third base and Jones advanced to third.
Sneed then kicked it into high gear, recording a pair of strikeouts to end the threat and get out the inning.
The Tigers added a run in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Johnson walked. Lynam then drilled a double to right centerfield that scored Johnson from first.
LSU added a run each in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, Connor led off with a single up the middle. After Jessica Braggins came in to pinch run for her, Johnson nailed a double to right centerfield that advanced Braggins to third.
With one out, Julie Wiese and Jennie Reeves drew back-to-back walks to plate Braggins and give the Tigers the 4-0 lead.
With one out in the sixth, Janzen singled to deep in the hole at shortstop.
After a Connor pop out, Sara Fitzgerald rocketed a double to left centerfield that scored Janzen from first. Lynam then singled through the right side, but Fitzgerald was thrown out at home trying to score from second to end the inning.
Auburn had just two singles following the second inning and no batter reached second base for the visiting Tigers. The final nine batters of the game went down in order for Auburn.
LSU will close out the regular season at home against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. Prior to the start of the first game, the Tigers will honor the five LSU seniors as part of Senior Day.