BATON ROUGE — Behind a four-hit shutout by Megan Jolly, the LSU softball team defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 7-0, on Wednesday night at Tiger Park to close out their non-conference schedule.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 27-15 on the season and have now won nine of their last 10, including six straight. The Lady Lions dropped to 17-24 on the season with the loss.
Jolly earned the complete-game win to improve to 6-4 on the season. In her third shutout of the season, she allowed four hits and a walk, while striking out 10 batters, posting her third double-figure strikeout performance of the season.
“It was a great performance by Megan,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “She hit a little bump in the road but she came back and settled down and was in total control. She got some strikeouts and made some good pitches. I was really proud of her effort and her mental performance in the circle. It was good to see her throw well. Anytime that the circle can give the rest of the team some confidence I think you are going to see a team play well.”
LSU recorded eight hits in the game, including four extra-base hits. Quinlan Duhon posted her team-best eighth home run, while Leslie Klein went 2-for-2 with a double, extending her hitting streak to seven games.
“It’s good to see that we have some bats coming bat,” said Girouard. “Leslie Klein is really starting to hit the ball with authority. It was good for Quinlan to get that shot tonight because she’s really struggled. She’s tried to work herself out of this, probably harder than probably any player that you’ll coach.”
Lauren Castle and Stephanie Hill each recorded doubles for LSU to run their season totals to 13 and 11 respectively. In addition, Camille Harris went 2-for-4, posting her 10th multiple-hit game of the season.
“Stephanie Hill and Lauren Delahoussaye also keep hitting the ball hard, so the crux of the offense from last year is starting to ignite and that’s just fun to see,” said Girouard.
LSU got on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Harris led off with a single up the middle. After she moved to second on a sacrifice by Castle, she advanced to third on a ground out by Vanessa Soto. With two outs, Hill doubled to left center to score Harris and give the Tigers the 1-0 lead.
In the top of the second, Jolly encountered her only trouble of the game. Amy Ford, the leadoff batter, reached on an infield base hit that trickled between the circle and first base toward second. Rebecca de la Garza then doubled to left center to put runners on second and third with no outs. Jolly then struck out the next two Lady Lion hitters before recording a pop out to end the inning.
“I told her she has to help herself out and make some defensive plays,” Girouard said about her trip to the circle after Jolly allowed back-to-back hits in the second. “The first hit should have been hers and then she just hung a rise ball. I told her to just hit her positions and she would be fine and she did after that.”
LSU responded with three runs in the bottom of the second. Klein led off with a walk. With one out, Andrea Smith singled to center field, sending Klein to second. With two outs, Harris singled up the middle, scoring Klein as Smith advanced to second. A double to left center by Castle scored Smith as Harris took third. Soto then reached on a fielding error by the first baseman, allowing Harris to score from third to run the score to 4-0 in favor of the Tigers.
In the bottom of the fifth, LSU closed out the scoring with three more runs. With one out and Delahoussaye at first after a fielder’s choice, Klein doubled to right center, scoring Delahoussaye from first. Duhon then homered off the scoreboard in left center field to run the score to 7-0 for LSU. After the second inning, Southeastern had just five base runners, while none advanced past first.
Jessica Sander started and took the loss for the Lady Lions, falling to 1-6 on the season. She allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits with a walk in an inning and two-thirds. Rachel Ray came on in relief in the second and allowed one hit with a strikeout in two and a third innings. Jamie Militello relieved Ray in the fifth and allowed three runs on two hits with a walk before Devin King pitched a perfect seventh.
The Tigers return to Southeastern Conference action this weekend on the road at Auburn. LSU will face AU in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon and concluding with a single game on Sunday at noon. All three games can be heard on the LSU Sports Network in Baton Rouge on Country Legends 107.3 FM and on the internet at www.LSUsports.net.
SLU 000 000 0 – 0 4 2
LSU 130 030 x – 7 8 1
Sander, Ray (2), Militello (5), King (7) and Smith, Ford (5). Jolly and Roessner, Hobbs (6). HR – Duhon. T – 1:48. A – 715.