SHREVEPORT, La. — In front of the largest crowd in Centenary softball history, fifth-ranked LSU shut out the Ladies, 4-0, on Wednesday night at the Centenary Softball Complex.
With the win, the Tigers moved to 26-5 on the season, while Centenary fell to 13-14 on the year. The crowd of 455 was treated to 15 combined hits, two home runs and a triple as LSU recorded its 10th shutout of the season.
“I told the team tonight that they always have to remember that they represent LSU,” said head coach Yvette Girouard. “Their fans were here to see LSU tonight – the national champion football team. LSU the national champion men’s and women’s track teams. LSU the No. 1 baseball team in the country. LSU the No. 5 team softball team in the country. The team can never forget that – that is why the park is crowded.”
Stephanie Hill and Lauren Delahoussaye provided the fireworks for the games, hitting their seventh and sixth home runs of the season respectively. Emily Turner threw the complete-game win for the Tigers to improve to 10-2 on the year. She allowed seven hits with seven strikeouts.
“We’re just happy for the win,” said Girouard. “Now we have to get back on the bus for the long drive home. It’s good to see Stephanie Hill’s bat come back and to see her hit the ball with authority. Emily pitched pretty good, she scattered some hits. I said before that they were a better team that we saw at the beginning of the year at Tiger Park and they kind of showed that tonight.”
In the top of the second inning, Tiger Hill recorded the first hit of the game with a line shot off the left field wall that was a foot too short to be a home run. The ball bounced off the wall and came back to the left fielder, keeping Hill at first for a single. She .was stranded there as Kristen Hobbs flew out to right field to end the inning.
Centenary had the first scoring opportunity of the game in the bottom half of the inning. With two outs, Ursula Maroski recorded an infield single that just beat out the throw from Delahoussaye at shortstop. Maroski advanced to second on a single to left field by Lauren Brownlee. Turner struck out Traci Smith for what should have been the third out, but on a third-strike wild pitch, Smith reached first and loaded the bases. Virdell then popped out to Delahoussaye to end the inning.
With two outs in the top of the third, LaDonia Hughes tripled to left center. Unfortunately, she was stranded at third as Lauren Castle struck out looking to end the threat.
The Ladies mounted a scoring threat again in the home half of the third. Jordan Lansdale led off with bloop single to center field. On a sacrifice bunt attempt, Turner over threw Delahoussaye covering second to put runners on first and second. With one out, Centenary loaded the bases on an infield single by Micah Rhodes. Megan Hall then hit into an inning-ending double play.
With one out in the top of the fourth, LSU broke the scoreless tie as Delahoussaye nailed her sixth home run of the season to left field to give LSU the 1-0 lead. After a Wiese walk, Hill drove her seventh home run of the year to straight-away center field to extend the lead to 3-0.
The Ladies stranded runners in scoring position again in fourth. Maroski led off with a single through the right side. On a sacrifice bunt attempt, the play on Davis, pinch running for Maroski at first, was not in time. With two outs, Davis advanced to third on a passed ball. Brownlee then stole second before Landsdale flied out to left field to end the inning.
The top of the fifth proved to be an unusual series of outs for the Tigers. Camille Harris walked to lead off the inning. After stealing second, she advanced to third on a single to right field by Hughes. On a steal attempt by Hughes, Harris was picked off at third on a hotly debated call. Castle then recorded a bunt single that moved Hughes to third. On the play, Castle moved to second after producing a rundown situation, but Hughes was thrown out at home on the second debated call of the inning. Leslie Klein lined out to second base to end the inning.
LSU added to its lead in the top of the sixth. With one out, Wiese hit a line-shot double to left field. A Leigh Ann Danos single to left field that dropped in with two outs allowed Wiese to score and give the Tigers the 4-0 advantage.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Landsdale reached on a muffed throw by Hill at first. Janis Kelley then singled though the left side with two outs to moved Lansdale to second. Turner coaxed Rhodes into an infield groundout to end the game and preserve the shutout.
Daries started and took the loss for Centenary to fall to 8-7 on the season .She allowed three runs on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts in four innings. Cathy Byrne came on in relief to throw two innings. She allowed one runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout. Kelley threw a final perfect inning.
The Tigers to SEC action return at home this weekend against Georgia in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network on Jam’n 107.3 FM and the internet at LSUsports.net. Sunday’s game will also be televised on Cox Sports Television, Baton Rouge cable channel 37.
Saturday’s doubleheader will be the annual “Pack the Park” promotion where fans can participate in games to win prizes including tickets to the Aerosmith concert. Also, the first 100 fans will receive a free car wash during the game.
LSU 000 301 0 – 4 8 2
Centenary 000 000 0 – 0 7 0
Turner and Hobbs. Daries, Byrne (5), Kelley (7) and Kowaleski, Hall. W – Turner (10-2). L – Daries (8-7). T – 2:16. A – 455.