BATON ROUGE — The 14th-ranked LSU softball team fell to Illinois, 7-2, on the final day of the Tiger Classic at Tiger Park on Sunday morning.
With the loss, the Tigers fell to 3-2 on the season. Illinois improved to 3-2 on the year and advanced to take on the winner of the Oklahoma-Centenary game in the tournament championship on Sunday afternoon.
The Illini broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth with four run, including a three-run home run by Erin Jones. LSU came back to cut the Illinois lead in half in the bottom half in of the inning, 4-2. Illinois added three more in the top of the seventh and the Tigers could not mount a rally in the bottom of inning.
Julie Wiese, LaDonia Hughes and Lauren Castle were named to the all-tournament team for LSU. Wiese was the all-tournament third baseman, hitting .333 with a double, four RBIs and two runs scored. Hughes was an all-tournament outfielder. She hit .421 with a triple, a home run, six RBIs and five runs scored. Lauren Castle hit .462 for the tournament with a triple, two RBIs and three runs scored.
All-Tournament pitcher Amanda Fortune got the complete-game win for the Illini to improve to 2-1 on the year. She allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits with a strikeout.
In the top of the fourth, Rachelle Coriddi led off with a single up the middle. On a single to right field by Jenna Hall, she advanced to second on an error by Castle in right field that allowed Coriddi to move to third. With one out, Jones hit her first home run of the season down the right field line for the 3-0 Illinois lead.
With two outs, Janna Sartini doubled to left field. After Molly Lawhead came in to pinch run for her, she scored on a single to left center by Kisten Martin.
The Tigers got two back in the bottom of the inning. Leslie Klein led off the inning with a solo home run to right center field, her second home run of the tournament. With two outs, Lauren Delahoussaye doubled to center field. Stephanie Hill then hit a fly ball to center field that Sartini dropped, allowing Delahoussaye to score from second as LSU ended the inning trailing 4-2.
In the top of the seventh, Sartini was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. With one out, Katie O’Connell doubled to left field and advanced to third on an error by Leigh Ann Danos behind the place as Sartini scored. Lindsey Hamma then reached on a fielder’s choice sacrifice and advanced to second as Kristin Schmidt overthrew Danos trying to get O’Connell at home. She scored on the play for the 6-2 Illinois lead.
On a groundout by Coriddi, Hamma advanced to third. She later scored on a wild pitch to run the score to the 7-2 final as LSU went down in order in the bottom of the inning.
Emily Turner got the loss for the Tigers, falling to 2-1 on the season. She allowed four runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts in four innings. Schmidt came on relief in the fifth and allowed three runs on two hits with two strikeouts in three innings.
LSU will now travel to Las Vegas to for the UNLV Softball Classic next weekend. The Tigers will take on Portland State at 1 p.m. CT and Wisconsin at 3:30 p.m. CT on Friday. LSU will then take on No. 2 California at 1 p.m. CT and Utah at 3:30 p.m. CT on Saturday.
Illinois 000 400 3 – 7 9 2
LSU 000 200 0 – 2 5 3
Fortune and Sartini. Turner, Schmidt and Danos. W – Fortune (2-1). L – Turner (2-1). HR – Jones, Klein. A – 140.
All-Tournament Team
P – Amanda Fortune, Illinois
1B – Jenna Hall, Illinois
2B – April Valdez, Oklahoma
3B – Julie Wiese, LSU
SS – Lindsey Hamma, Illinois
OF – LaDonia Hughes, LSU
OF – Lauren Castle, LSU
OF – Kirstin Vesely, Oklahoma
MVP – Heather Scaglione, Oklahoma
Oklahoma 6, Centenary 1
Box Score
An RBI single by April Valdez in the bottom of the sixth gave No. 4 Oklahoma the 9-1 run-rule victory over Centenary in the second semi-final game of the Tiger Classic at Tiger Park on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, Oklahoma improved to 5-0 on the season and moved on to take on Illinois in the tournament championship game. The loss dropped Centenary to 1-4 on the year and finish the tournament as the fifth seed.
Jessica Johnson got the win for the Sooners to improve to 2-0 on the season. She allowed one run on two hits with a walk and four strikeouts in six innings.
For the game, Oklahoma’s Norrelle Dickson, Kristin Vesely and Valdez each went 3-for-4, while Christina Enea went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
The Sooners jumped out early on Centenary, taking the 4-0 lead in the first inning. With one out, Vesely tripled down the left field line. Enea then singled through the left side to score Vesely. With two outs, Nicole Denes walked. Jessica Leslie then nailed a three-run home run to left center.
In the third, Oklahoma added another run. After a leadoff walk to Enea, Heather Scaglione doubled to center field to score Enea from first.
Centenary got one back in the top of the fourth inning. Janis Kelley led off the inning with a home run to right center field, the first of two hits in the game for the Ladies. Centenary did not have another base runner in scoring position during the game.
One more in the fourth ran the lead to 5-0 for the Sooners. Valdez led off the inning with a bunt single Dickson then singled to left field as Valdez moved to second. A Vesely single down the right field line scored Valdez from second.
Oklahoma added a pair in the fifth inning. With two outs, Valdez singled down the right field line. After stealing second, she scored on a single up the middle by Dickson. Vesely then singled to left field, moving Dickson to second. A single through the right side by Enea scored Dickson for the 8-1 lead.
In the sixth inning with two outs, Mariee Mena singled up the middle. Nicki Holt then doubled to left center, moving Mena to thid. A single by Valdez scored the winning run.
Cathy Byrne took the loss for the Ladies. She started and allowed five runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout in two innings. Casi Hendricks came on in relief and allowed four runs on 11 hits with two walks in three and two-thirds innings.
Centenary 000 100 – 1 2 1
Oklahoma 401 121 – 9 15 1
Byrne, Hendricks and Kowaleski. Johnson and Scaglione. W – Johnson (2-0). L – Byrne (0-2). HR – Kelley, Leslie. A – 85.
Oklahoma 2, Illinois 2
Box Score
No. 4 Oklahoma and Illinois played to a 2-2 tie in the championship game of the Tiger Classic on Sunday afternoon in Tiger Park.
Due to travel plans, both teams had to depart for the airport, ending the game in a tie after seven innings. Oklahoma moved to 5-0-1 on the year, while Illinois is now 3-2-1.
Lindsey Gronski came up big for the Illini in the game, going 2-for-3 with a two RBI double in the fourth inning that gave Illinois the one-run lead at the time. Tournament MVP Heather Scaglione was the hero for Oklahoma, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, including the game tying RBI in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Sooners struck first, taking the 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Kristin Vesely recorded an infield pitcher. Christina Enea then walked, sending Vesely to second base. A single to left field by Scaglione scored Vesely to give Oklahoma the lead.
In the top of the fourth, Illinois struck back. Rachelle Coriddi doubled to center field to lead off the inning. After a walk to Jenna Hall, Erin Montgomery sacrificed Coriddi and Hall to second and third respectively. With two outs, Gronski doubled to left field to score both base runners and give the Illini the 2-1 lead.
The Sooners came back to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Norrelle Dickson walked. A single to left field by Vesely sent Dickson to second. With one out, Scaglione singled through the right side, scoring Dickson from second for the 2-2 tie. With runners on second and third, Amanda Fortune got Jessica Leslie to strike out to end the inning.
Illinois had a chance to take the lead in the top of the sixth. With one out, Erin Montgomery doubled down the left field line. With two outs, Janna Sartini singled up the middle. Montgomery attempted to score on the play, but was thrown out by Vesely at the plate.
Neither team was able to push a run across the plate the remainder of the game as it ended in a stale mate.
Sherri Taylor started and went four and a third innings for Illinois. She allowed two runs on four hits with four walks. Fortune came on in relief in the fifth innings. She allowed three hits with three strikeouts in two and two-thirds innings.
For Oklahoma, Nicole Denes started and went five and a third innings. She allowed two runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Jessica Johnson came on in relief in the sixth innings. She allowed two hits and a walk in an inning and two-thirds.
Illinois 000 200 0 – 2 9 0
Oklahoma 001 010 0 – 2 7 0
Taylor, Fortune (5) and Sartini. Denes, Johnson (6) and Scaglione. Total Att. – 584.