BATON ROUGE — The 19th-ranked LSU softball team fell to No. 10 Alabama, 6-0, in Southeastern Conference action on Friday night at Tiger Park.
The doubleheader on Saturday has been changed to an 11 a.m. start time with the second game to follow at 2 p.m. The second game will be broadcast live on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37 and on the radio on The X 104.5 and 104.9 FM. The first game will not be broadcast on either radio or television, but live stats will be available on LSUsports.net.
The loss snapped the Tigers’ four-game winning streak over the Crimson Tide and dropped LSU to 17-9 overall and 1-6 in SEC play. Alabama improved to 34-7 on the season and 7-4 in league play, a half game ahead of Auburn in first place in the SEC West.
“We’ve got to learn how to fight or else we’re going to be in a world of hurt,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “There was no fight in this team tonight. (Stephanie) VanBrakle did throw well, I’ll give her that credit, and Alabama took it to us.
“We’ve got to fight,” Girouard continued. “We’ve got to learn how to be competitive and to be warriors each and every time we come out on the field and I didn’t see that tonight. That was the most disappoint thing I saw in the team.”
In the top of the first inning, Alabama took the early lead. With one out, Ashley Courtney doubled off the glove of Stephanie Hill at first base. Staci Ramsey then appeared to fly out to left field for the second out, but an illegal pitch was called that brought Ramsey back to the plate and sent Courtney to third. Ramsey then homered down the left field line to give the Crimson Tide the 2-0 lead.
Hill led off the bottom of the second inning with a single over the third baseman. Dee Dee Henderson pinch ran for her at first and advanced to second on an infield ground out by Leslie Klein. Back-to-back strikeouts by Quinlan Duhon and Lauren Delahoussaye ended LSU’s scoring threat.
With two outs in the top of the third inning, Courtney added to the Alabama lead with a solo home run to straight away center field. After having given up the two-run home run in the first inning, Emily Turner retired seven straight before giving up the home run to Courtney.
After Megan Jolly came in to pitch for Jolly in the fourth, she allowed just two singles and a walk in two innings until the sixth. With one out, she walked VanBrakle. Dani Woods then singled off the glove of Hill at first. A double by Emily Currie scored VanBrakle and Woods to extend the Alabama lead to 5-0. A walk to Leah White put runners on first and second.
With two outs, pinch hitter Katie Johnson walked to load the bases. Jolly then hit Courtney to score Currie from third and give the Crimson Tide the 6-0 advantage. Tiffany Garcia then relieved Jolly in the circle.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Hill recorded her second hit of the game, which was also the second Tiger hit of the game. Klein then grounded out to the shortstop to end the game.
Turner started and took the loss for LSU to fall to 8-5 on the season. She allowed three runs on four hits with three strikeouts in three innings of work. Jolly came on in relief in the fourth and allowed three runs on four hits with four walks and a strikeout in two and two-thirds innings. Garcia closed out the game with a perfect inning and a third with a strikeout.
VanBrakle started and earned the win for Alabama to improve to 15-4 on the season. She allowed one hits with eight strikeouts in five innings. Chrissy Owens closed out the game, allowing one hit with one strikeout in two innings.
Alabama 201 003 0 – 6 8 0
LSU 000 000 0 – 0 2 0
VanBrakle, Owens (6) and Wilkins. Turner, Jolly (4), Garcia (6) and Roessner, Hobbs (6).
WP – VanBrakle (15-4). LP – Turner (8-5).
HR – Ramsey. T – 2:02. A – 888.