AUSTIN, Texas — A pair of home runs each by Blair Smith and Alicia Owen led a record-setting performance as the fourth-seeded LSU softball team defeated Hawai’i, 9-4, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at McCombs Field on Thursday morning.
With the win, the Tigers (50-16) will take on No. 1-seeded Texas on Friday at 11:30 a.m. Hawai’i dropped to 37-19 on the season and will play in an elimination game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tonight at 9 p.m. Texas defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-0, in game two.
“I think that when we are aggressive that we are obviously a much better team,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “I think we might have had a few things in our favor, with the time zone change for Hawai’i, but we have been through a rigorous four days as well. I am proud of our team. They went out and got the job done.”
With five home runs, the Tiger broke the NCAA Tournament record for round trippers in a game. LSU now holds the record, surpassing the four home runs recorded by Arizona, which accomplished the feat twice, UCLA, Oregon and Alabama. The pair of homers each by Smith and Owen also tied the LSU single-game record for home runs.
For the game, Smith went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and four runs batted in. Owen also went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while knocking in three.
“We tend to have a lot of pop to our bat,” said Girouard. “It has been over the last month that we have really been hitting with a ton of confidence and sometimes they go over the fence.”
Megann Steege also recorded her first home run of the season. The senior from Fresno, Calif., was unable to practice on Wednesday because of a stomach illness that had her extremely dehydrated and questioned her playing status until Thursday morning.
With the complete-game victory, Kristin Schmidt improved to 34-13 on the year. She is now just two wins shy of the LSU single-season record for victories. The junior from Houston allowed four runs, all in the fifth inning, on nine hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
In the bottom of the third inning, Leigh Ann Danos led off the inning and was robbed of extra bases when Hawai’i centerfielder Marie Jackson went up and made a catch high off the wall in deep centerfield. The next batter, Blair Smith, then nailed a home run to left center, her fourth of the year, breaking up the no-hitter and the shutout to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead.
After Sara Fitzgerald led off with a hard hit single that ricocheted off the third baseman in the bottom of the fourth, Alicia Owen nailed her fourth home run of the season to left center to expand the LSU lead to 3-0. Tessa Lynam doubled off the centerfield wall, coming up just shy of back-to-back home runs for the Tigers.
With Lynam on second and one out, Wiese grounded out to the pitcher before Danos drew a walk. With two on, Smith went yard again to left center as the Tigers pulled ahead 6-0.
In the top of the fifth, Hawai’i led off with three consecutive singles to load the bases. After a popout to shallow centerfield, Denise Dahlberg singled to left center, driving in a pair of runs to cut the LSU lead to 6-2. With two outs, Stacey Ported doubled to left center, plating two more runs before Kate Judd grounded out to end the inning with the Tigers leading 6-4.
LSU got one of the runs back in the home half of the inning when Owen jacked her second home run of the game. With two outs the freshman from Anaheim, Calif., nailed a shot over the fence in left center.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Jennie Reeves drew a walk. The Tigers broke the NCAA Tournament record for home runs in a game when Steege nailed one over the fence down the left field line as LSU went ahead 9-4.
Melissa Coogan took the loss for the Wahine to fall to 29-10 on the year. She allowed six runs on five hits with a walk in three and two-thirds innings. Shannon Tabion came on in relief. She allowed three runs on two hits with a pair of walks over the final two and a third.