BATON ROUGE — A four-run third inning put the seventh-ranked LSU softball team ahead for good as the Tigers defeated Tennessee 6-1 and took the three-game Southeastern Conference series win from the Lady Vols at Tiger Park on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, LSU improved to 18-6 overall and 2-1 in the SEC. Tennessee dropped to 17-8 overall and 1-2 in the SEC. The Tigers will now take on Nicholls State in a single game on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Tiger Park before heading to Columbia, S.C. to resume SEC play against South Carolina in a three game series next weekend.
“We looked a little shaky there in that first couple of innings,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “You make your team very aware that things aren’t going your way and you have to fight back. You have to fight all elements and that’s what I liked about the team today, they did that. We regrouped and we got ourselves together so I’m pleased with the way the series ended.
“We obviously wanted to sweep, being at home, because now you have to go on the road against a very good South Carolina team that is very dangerous.
It’s a long 30 game season and you have to take them where you can get them.”
Kristin Schmidt picked up the complete-game win for the Tigers to improve to 10-5 on the season. She allowed one run on three hits with two walks and six
strikeouts. Starting pitcher Christy Anch got the loss for Tennessee to fall to 2-1. She allowed four runs, three earned, on three hits in two and a third innings. Stacey Jennings went two and two-thirds innings, allowing one run on three hits with a walk. Stephanie Humphrey threw one inning for the Lady Vols, giving up one run on four hits.
LaDonia Hughes led the Tigers at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance and two runs scored. Tessa Lynam added a 2-for-4 performance with a team-high two RBIs. Alicia Owen and Sara Fitzgerald also went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI each.
“It was good to see LaDonia come back after going hitless yesterday,” said Girouard. “She is such an important weapon in our offense. We feel like if she gets on then we should always score.”
Tennessee struck first, getting a run in the top of the second inning. Amber Rhinehart led off with a walk and stole second. She advanced to third on a single by Angela Brewer that Alicia Owen made a diving stop on to prevent it from going into the outfield and allowing Rhinehart to score. With runners on first and third, Stacey Jennings singled to score Rhinehart and give the Lady Vols a 1-0 lead.
With runners on first and second, Christy Anch hit a pop up that Schmidt made a play on but could not come up with the catch. On the infield fly, Anch was declared out for the second out of the inning and the runners advance at their own risk and must be tagged for the out.
After the batted ball was dropped, Schmidt threw the ball to Wiese at third to get Brewer, but no tag was applied. Wiese then threw the ball to Owen covering second to get Jennings. After the field had been cleared for the end of the inning, the umpires overturned their previous ruling and declared that Owen did not make the tag on Jennings and the runners returned to second and third with two outs. Luckily for LSU, Schmidt, immediately got Ellisha Humphrey to ground out to end the inning. She retired 15 of the last 18 Tennessee batters to end the game.
“Kristin started off a little rough,” said Girouard. “She refocused and got herself out of a jam and threw a good game after that.”
LSU came back to take the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Megann Steege was hit by a pitch to start the inning. With one out, Hughes blooped a single down the left field line, moving Steege to second. Fitzgerald reached on an error by the Lady Vol shortstop and advanced to second, Hughes moved to third and Steege scored on the play.
On a squeeze bunt attempt, Christy Connor reached first and advanced to second as the Tennessee pitcher Anch attempted to get Hughes at home, but was late on the tag, allowing Hughes to score. With runners on second and third, back-to-back singles by Lynam and Owen scored Fitzgerald and Connor.
A walk by Jennie Reeves loaded the bases with LSU leading 4-0, but Steege, batting for the second time in the inning, grounded out to end the third.
“Things started happening for us,” said Girouard. ” We started hitting the ball and the balls had eyes. We started putting pressure on them. We talked about that all weekend, that they tended to kick the ball around a lot. We just needed to get the ball out of the air and hit the ball hard on the ground and good things would happen for us and eventually they did.”
The Tigers tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Hughes recorded her third hit of the game on a tapped ball that barely cleared the batter’s box. She then scored on a double by Fitzgerald, the eighth double of the season for the junior from Kingwood, Texas.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, LSU added another run. Fitzgerald singled to left centerfield with one out. She advanced to second on a ground out by Connor. With two outs, Lynam nailed a single to left field that scored Fitzgerald from second to run the score to the final of 6-1 in favor of the Tigers.