BATON ROUGE — Christy Connor’s walk-off home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the eight-ranked LSU softball team a 5-3 win over Nicholls State on Wednesday night in Tiger Park.
In front of a near record single-game crowd of 786, the Tigers improved to 19-6 on the season. Nicholls State fell to 9-12 overall. LSU is now 2-0 on the year in extra inning games, having also defeated Oklahoma in nine innings earlier this season.
“I am happy with the victory, but not happy with the defense,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We’ve got to make some plays and the game is not even a game. In the third or fourth inning, one big blow and the game is over. I tried to warn the team that this team was a better team and that this pitcher could be very effective. We’ve got to learn to put people away.”
Kristin Schmidt got the complete-game win for the Tigers to improve to 11-5 on the season. She matched her career high with 14 strikeouts. She allowed three unearned runs on four hits and did not give up a walk in nine innings.
Dione Maier took the complete-game loss for Nicholls State to drop to 4-4 on the year. She allowed five runs, only three of which were earned, on eight hits with five walks and six strikeouts.
For the game, Connor went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Sara Fitzgerald finished 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
“Sara played very well,” said Giroaurd. “I am also happy for Connor to swing the stick. That was a big blow right there.”
LSU took the early lead in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, Connor singled to center field. She advanced to second on a wild pitch. On a fly ball by Tessa Lynam to left field, Lady Colonel Haley Fagin dropped the ball, allowing Connor to score from second.
The Tigers added another two-out run in the bottom of the second inning.
LaDonia Hughes tripled to left centerfield before a single by Fitzgerald scored her from third for the 2-0 LSU lead.
In the bottom of the third, the Tiger added a third run with two outs. Julie Wiese doubled to centerfield. After a walk to Blair Smith, Wiese advanced to third and Smith moved to second on a wild pitch. Megann Steege then drew a walk to load the bases. Wiese scored on a fielding error by Lady Colonel shortstop Lindsey Yelverton to give LSU the 3-0 lead.
“I was really happy with the way we came out in the first three innings and I liked what I saw,” said Giroaurd. “I thought we were going to chase this girl and all of a sudden we became complacent. We have tendency to do that, but the bottom line is that we found a way to win.”
An infield single by Nicholls State catcher Sarah Eads broke up Schmidt’s bid for the perfect game in the top of the fourth inning. The Lady Colonels then used two Tiger errors to score three runs and tie the game in the top of the sixth inning.
Chrissy Jenkins led off the inning by reaching on an error by Lynam at first. She advanced to third and Kristina Swart reached first on a throwing error by Wiese from third. Jenkins then scored and Swart moved to second on an infield groundout by Yelverton.
Swart then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Sarah Eads. A double to left center by Stephanie Sasser scored Swart from second before a single to left field by Kristi Blanchard scored Sasser from second to tie the game at three.
“Kristin is just cruising, but I think they just stuck their bats out over the plate,” said Girouard. “The two errors certainly didn’t help us, but give them credit. We try to pound into our players’ heads that in-state schools come in here with nothing to lose and if we kick the ball around we are going to be in trouble.”
Nicholls State threatened in the top of the eighth inning. An infield single and an error by Alicia Owen put Swart on second base to lead off the inning. Yelverton sacrificed Swart to third, before Eads grounded out to Owen at second and Sasser popped out to Owen to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Wiese was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, but was called back to the plate after further discussion by the umpires. She went on to strike out for the first out of the inning. With two outs, Smith hit a ball down the left field line that appeared to clear the fence and bounce back in after hitting the netting just behind the outfield wall. The hit was not ruled a home run and Smith was credited with a double. Leigh Ann Danos then struck out to end the inning.
“You worry that the momentum goes to the other team but we always know we get the last at bat,” said Girouard. “We always keep talking about fighting and we just found a way.”
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Fitzgerald doubled to left field.
Christy Connor then nailed her fourth home run of the season to right centerfield to give LSU the 5-3 win.
The Tigers will now travel to face Southeastern Conference rival South Carolina. LSU will take on the 14th-ranked Gamecocks in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. ET and complete the series with a single game on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. All three games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network in Baton Rouge on WJHN, Jam’n 107.3 FM. Sunday’s game will also be televised on FoxSports Southwest, Baton Rouge cable channel 37.