BATON ROUGE — A walk-off grand slam by Alicia Owen to win game one in the 11th inning highlighted five home runs the 11th-ranked LSU softball team nailed to sweep Ole Miss, 10-6 and 3-0, on Friday night at Tiger Park.
Currently riding an 11-game winning streak, the Tigers improved to 37-11 overall and 13-6 in the Southeastern Conference. LSU moved into third place in the league after South Carolina lost to league-leading Alabama. The Tigers now stand four games behind the Crimson Tide.
Ole Miss dropped to 17-29 overall and 6-17 in conference play. LSU is now 22-2 all-time against the Rebels and has now won 15 consecutive games over Ole Miss dating back to the first game of a four-game series in 1999.
“It was just a magical comeback,” LSU head coach Yvette Girouard said of the first game. “Obviously a fun game to be a part of. The one thing that this team has done all along is fight to the end and that is exactly what they did in that first game.”
With the score tied a three, Ole Miss hit a three-run home run to take the 6-3 lead in the top of the 10th inning of game one. The Tigers came back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning. Julie Wiese hit a two-run home run with one out to cut the Rebel advantage to 6-5 before Camille Harris hit a two-out solo home run to tie the game.
“How big a hit was that for Camille Harris with two outs,” said Girouard. “She kind of has no fear and that is exactly what you have to have as a ballplayer. She doesn’t care. She just goes there and swings and whatever happens, happens. I don’t think she lets it bother her.”
In the bottom of the 11th inning, Ole Miss intentionally walked the bases loaded after Sara Fitzgerald was sacrificed to third base. Owen then recorded her first hit of the game with a walk-off grand slam, the first home run of her collegiate career.
“We told her to make them pay for it, that they walked some people to get to her,” Girouard said of Owen. “She was one of our top recruits and she is starting to swing the bat now.”
In the second game, Blair Smith hit a solo home run to put the Tigers ahead in the third inning. Wiese and Tessa Lynam recorded doubles in the fourth and Owen had a sacrifice fly as LSU ran the score to 3-0.
Wiese finished the doubleheader 5-for-8 at the plate with two doubles and a home run. With a 1.250 slugging percentage, she also knocked in two runs and scored twice. LaDonia Hughes and Camille Harris each posted 3-for-7 performances for the Tigers.
“Julie Wiese has to be seeing the ball really well right now,” said Girouard. “She is starting to hit the ball like the old Julie Wiese. We are starting to hit the ball really well as a team. Obviously when you score runs, everything else is a little easier.”
LSU improved to 17-1 on the year when hitting a home run after recording a round-tripper in each of the night’s games. The Tigers only loss with a home run was a 7-2 defeat to No. 18 Alabama.
With two outs in the first, Christy Connor nailed a two-run home run to straight away center field for the early 2-0 LSU lead in the first game.
Hughes was on third when Connor hit the homer. She had reached on a single to right field, stole second and advanced to third on an error by the catcher.
Ole Miss came back to tie the game in the top of the third. With one out, Megan Kozar hit a bloop single to left centerfield. A single to center field by Britte Hardy moved Kozar to third before Brooke Turner doubled down the left field line to score both Kozar and Hard to tie the game 2-2.
The Tigers came back to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Harris led off with an infield single. A single through the left side by Fitzgerald moved Harris to second before LSU loaded the bases on a fielder’s choice by Hughes.
On the play, Rebel shortstop Rebecca McIntire threw to third to get Harris on the force, but Harris was ruled safe on the play. After arguing the call, Ole Miss head coach Candi Letts was ejected from the game. With one out and the bases loaded, Harris scored on sacrifice fly by Connor to give LSU the 3-2 advantage.
With one out and no one on in the top of the sixth inning, Andrea Brahs homered to left center to tie the game again.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Fitzgerald singled to left center. After back-to-back walks loaded the bases, Connor reached on a fielder’s as Fitzgerald was thrown out at home. With two outs, Owen struck out to end the inning with the bases loaded.
LSU had the opportunity to win the game again in both the eighth and ninth innings. Julie Wiese doubled to left center led off with a double to left center, but the Tigers could do not push her across. With two outs in the ninth, Tessa Lynam doubled off the right field wall. Ole Miss then intentionally walked Connor before Owen flied out to centerfield to end the inning.
Beginning with Kozar on second because of the international tiebreaker rule in the 10th inning, Ole Miss put up three runs to take the 6-3 lead.
With one out, Hardy reached on an error by Wiese at third before Turner hit a three-run home run to left field.
With Owen on second to start the bottom of the 10th inning, she advanced to third on a wild pitch. Wiese then drove a full-count pitch off the scoreboard in left center to cut the Ole Miss lead to 6-5. With two outs, Harris nailed her fifth home run of the season out of the park down the left field line to tie the game at 6-6.
In the bottom of the 11th, Fitzgerald started on second. She was sacrificed to third by Hughes before Ole Miss intentionally walked Lynam and Connor to load the bases. Owen then hit a walk-off grand slam home run to end the game.
Schmidt earned the win for the Tigers to improve to 22-9 on the season. She allowed six runs, four earned, on eight hits with one walk in 11 innings. She struck out a career-high 17 batters, just two shy of the LSU single-game record.
“It was a gutsy performance by Kristin Schmidt considering she has a finger that ripped open in the middle of the game,” said Girouard. “She battled, battled, battled, and her team got her some runs.”
Lindsay Price got the loss for Ole Miss in relief to drop to 9-12. She allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in six and a third innings. Dana Brill started the game and later came back on in the 11th inning, giving up the grand slam to Owen.
She allowed six runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in four innings.
In the second game, LSU took the early lead in the bottom of the third on a solo home run by Smith. After going hitless in the first game, Smith nailed the solo homer, the second of her career, off the scoreboard in left center for the 1-0 advantage.
The Tigers extended the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Wiese doubled down the left field line. She scored on a double to left field by Lynam as she advanced to third on a throwing error by the left fielder. A sacrifice fly by Owen then scored Lynam from third.
Lynam got the complete game shutout for the Tigers to improve to 15-2. In her fifth shutout of the season, she allowed one infield bunt single and a walk while striking out nine.
Leslie Day took the loss for Ole Miss to fall to 5-8 on the year. She allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits with three strikeouts.
The three-game series will conclude with a single game on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game was pushed back from a 1 p.m. start time due to the late finish of Friday’s games.