BATON ROUGE — After splitting a doubleheader on Saturday, the fifth-ranked LSU softball team dropped the series finale to No. 7 Georgia, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at Tiger Park.
With the loss, the Tigers fell to 27-7 on the year and 7-4 in Southeastern Conference play. The Bulldogs improved to 28-6 overall and 7-2 in league play.
For the game, LSU recorded just one hit, a two-run home run by Lauren Delahoussaye in the sixth inning. Although the Tigers hit the ball hard throughout the game, Georgia’s defense robbed LSU of several base hits, holding the high-powered Tiger offense to its lowest hit total since being one-hit by Texas in the NCAA Regionals last season.
“We hit the ball well at times, but they made every play,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “To Georgia’s credit, they played phenomenal today. (Kristin) Schmidt wasn’t as sharp today as she was yesterday.
“Georgia is a good ball club, nothing phases them. We run-ruled them in the first game and they still acted like they had won the game. They were a better ball club than we were this weekend.”
The Bulldogs broke up the perfect game in the top of the third with a lead off single by Ashley Godfrey. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bun. With two outs, Godfrey scored on a double to center field by Nicole Barber to give Georgia the 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, Kim Wendland led off with a home run to right center. With one out, Shannon McKeon drew a walk. A single to center field by Kasi Carroll moved McKeon to third. Cook, pinch running for McKeon, scored on a sacrifice fly to extend the Bulldog lead to 3-0.
The Tigers got their first scoring opportunity of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Sara Fitzgerald drew a walk. She advanced to second on a sacrifice. LaDonia Hughes then grounded out to second to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Courtney Knight recorded a one-out double to right center for Georgia. She moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single to left field by McKeon.
LSU broke up the no-hitter and the shutout in the home half of the inning. With one out and Leslie Klein on first, Delahoussaye nailed her seventh home run of the season to left field to cut the Bulldog lead to 4-2, but LSU could get no closer.
Schmidt took the complete-game loss for the Tigers to fall to 16-4 on the year. She allowed four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk, the first she surrendered in 23 innings.
Griffith earned the complete-game one-hit victory to improve to 10-2 on the season. For the game, she surrendered the two-run home run and five walks with four strikeouts in seven innings.
LSU will step out of conference this week for a single game against Alabama A&M at Tiger Park on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Tigers then return to SEC play next weekend at Alabama for a three game slate. The series begins with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and concludes with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. Sunday’s game will be broadcast on FoxSports in Baton Rouge on cable channel 38 as part of the SEC-TV package.
Georgia 001 201 0 – 4 8 0
LSU 000 002 0 – 2 1 1
Griffith and McKeon. Schmidt and Danos. W – Griffith (10-2). L – Schmidt (16-4). HR – Wendland, Delahoussaye. T – 2:03. A – 770.