BATON ROUGE — Overcoming painfully cold weather, Emily Turner recorded a complete-game shutout as the 25th-ranked LSU softball team capitalized on several illegal pitches by Washington on their way winning the 2006 Easton Tiger Classic championship, 4-0, on Sunday afternoon at Tiger Park.
The Tigers (12-0) scored a pair of runs off of four illegal pitch calls on Husky pitcher Danielle Lawrie, while adding an RBI sacrifice fly by Vanessa Soto and an RBI double by Quinlan Duhon. Junior Leslie Klein earned Tiger Classic Most Valuable Player honors, while Duhon, Turner and Dani Hofer were named to all-tournament team.
“I thought we played very, very well this weekend considering the elements,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “This is not an easy thing to do. My hands are frozen and I am wearing gloves and have on 10 layers of clothes.
“We were focused,” Girouard continued. “The pitchers did what they needed to do to get people out. Our defense has been phenomenal. I think we have a confidence to us and I think the team believes they are going to win every time we go out there. That is the team we always thought we had.”
LSU earned a berth in the championship game after defeating Western Kentucky, 3-1, in its first game of the day, while Washington (8-3) topped Eastern Michigan, 1-0, to advance to the championship game.
Pitching in temperatures in the lower 40’s with wind chills in the mid-30’s, Turner earned her fourth complete-game shutout of the season to improve to 4-0 on the year. The junior from Chula Vista, Calif., allowed six hits with two walks while striking out six.
The Tigers got on the board in the top of the first inning. With one out and Lauren Castle on first, Klein doubled to left center, sending Castle to third. On a sacrifice fly to right field, Castle scored before Klein was called out on appeal for leaving second too early on the tag to end the inning.
The Huskies recorded their first hit in the bottom of the second on a two-out double by Alicia Matthews to right center. Turner worked her way out of trouble with a fly out to right field by pinch hitter Ashlyn Watson to end the inning.
In the top of the third, LSU tacked on another run. With two outs, Castle doubled up the middle. She advanced to third on an illegal pitch by Lawrie before scoring on an illegal pitch.
Washington got the leadoff runner on in the bottom half of the inning on a single by Brooke Woodward. With Dena DePompa running for her at first, Killian Roessner picked DePompa off on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt. Turner then struck out Marnie Koziol and coaxed Dominique Lastrapes into a ground out to end the inning.
“I can’t compliment Roessner enough,” said Girouard. “She is gunning people out. She is handling the pitchers and calling the game.”
The Huskies had another chance in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Woodward drew a walk. She moved to second on an infield single by Koziol. Lastrapes fouled out to Lauren Delahoussaye at third to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth, the Tigers ran the score to 3-0. With one out, Klein singled up the middle. She moved to second on a ground out by Soto. With Erika Sluss pinch running for Klein at second, Sluss scored on a double down the right field line by Duhon.
“I just knew that Quinlan was going to get that last RBI because of her previous at bat,” said Girouard. “She was making good adjustments against a very good pitcher.”
Roessner kept Washington off the board in the bottom half of the inning. After Charter led off with a bunt single, she was caught stealing by Roessner, which would have scored as Sarah Hyatt then doubled to left center. Hyatt advanced to third on a ground out by Tyson. Turner got herself out of trouble with a strikeout of Lauren Greer to end the inning.
LSU closed out the scoring in the top of the seventh. After Roessner led off with a single to right field, Dee Dee Henderson came in to pinch run for her at first. Henderson then advanced to second on an illegal pitch. Following the ejection of Washington head coach Heather Tarr for arguing with the first base umpire on the illegal pitch call, Henderson moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Another illegal pitch by Lawrie scored Henderson from third for the 4-0 Tiger lead.
The Huskies had one last chance in the bottom of the seventh. Matthews led off with an infield single. Nicole Moojen then flied out to left field. With one out, Matthews advanced to second on a ground out by Woodward. Turner closed out the game with a strikeout of Koziol.
Lawrie took her first loss of the season to fall to 5-1 on the year. She allowed four runs on seven hits with two walks and a season-low of only one strikeout.
In the first game of the day, LSU topped the Hilltoppers for the second time in the tournament. The Tigers got a complete-game win from Hofer (4-0), who allowed one run on seven hits with five strikeouts.
In the bottom of the second inning, LSU broke the scoreless tie with a leadoff home run by Vanessa Soto, her first of the season. The Tigers followed that up with a sacrifice fly by Andrea Smith, which scored Dee Dee Henderson to give LSU the 2-0 advantage.
In the top of the sixth inning, Western Kentucky got one run back after putting a runner in scoring position for the first time in the game. With two outs, Sam Cronk earned a bunt single. A single to center field by Alana Towns sent Cronk to second. Rebecca Horesky came through with an RBI single that scored Cronk. On the play, Horesky advanced to second and Towns took third. With the go-ahead run at second, Hofer struck out Amanda Ford-Feitz looking on three-straight pitches to end the inning.
The Tigers got the run back in the bottom half of the inning. Stephanie Hill drove a one-out home run over the left field fence for the 3-1 LSU lead. It was Hill’s second home run of the season and 22nd of her career, tying her with Christy Connor for the fourth-most home runs in school history.
In the bottom of the inning with two outs, Sam Young singled down the left field line. Hofer then got Jennifer Brooks to foul out to Roessner to end the game.
The Tigers return to action on Wednesday as LSU hosts a doubleheader against Texas Southern. The first game begins at 4 p.m. with the second game to follow 20 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
Next weekend, LSU will be truly tested as the Tigers travel to the Palm Springs Classic. LSU will start off on Friday against No. 2 UCLA, before taking on No. 12 Oregon State. The Tigers continue play on Saturday against Texas Tech and UC-Santa Barbara. On Sunday, LSU will face No. 7 Stanford in a game that will be televised on ESPNU.
2006 Easton Tiger Classic All-Tournament Team
Ashley Charters, Washington
Lauren Clark, Eastern Michigan
Quinlan Duhon, LSU
Dani Hofer, LSU
Rebecca Horesky, Western Kentucky
Sarah Hyatt, Washington
Danielle Lawrie, Washington
Emily Turner, LSU
MVP: Leslie Klein, LSU