BATON ROUGE — A three-run sixth inning, sparked by a leadoff home run by Leslie Klein, led the 12th-ranked LSU softball team to a 3-0 win over No. 13 Georgia on Sunday afternoon at Tiger Park.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 26-5 on the season and 4-2 in Southeastern Conference play. The win dropped the Bulldogs to 24-7 overall and 7-2 in league play after Georgia won the first two games of the series on Saturday.
With the game scoreless in the bottom of the sixth inning, Klein led off with a solo home run to left center to break the tie and give LSU its first run of the weekend. It all fell apart for the Bulldogs at that point. Georgia committed three errors that allowed two more runs to cross the plate as the Tigers continued to apply pressure at the plate and on the basepath to run the final to 3-0.
Emily Turner threw her seventh complete-game shutout of the season to improve to 9-2 on the year. The junior allowed just three hits with three walks and two timely strikeouts in the victory.
“I thought that Emily just did a fantastic job,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “She gave her team some confidence and we were just clawing away throughout the game. They battled every pitch, every inning. They were truly a team today. They came together and weren’t going to be denied. We needed to make a statement today, not just to Georgia, but to the SEC.”
In the top of the second inning, Girouard was ejected from the game for arguing with the home plate umpire. Megan McAllister was then hit by a pitch. A sacrifice bunt by Alison Horne sent McAllister to second.
With to outs, back-to-back hit by pitches loaded the bases, despite the LSU staff’s argument that the Georgia batters were making no attempt to get out of the way of the ball. Turner then recorded her first strikeout of the game against Sojourner Moody to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
LSU had its first runner in scoring position in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, Stephanie Hill singled up the middle. A sacrifice bunt by Quinlan Duhon sent Hill to second, but with two outs Killian Roessner flied out to left field to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third, the Tigers got a two-out double by Lauren Castle off the glove of third baseman Chelsea Cantillo, who had to come out of the game after the contact. Back-to-back walks to Camille Harris and Vanessa Soto loaded the bases, but Klein flew out to left field to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
It appeared LSU may take the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Duhon hit a long fly ball to left field that appeared to have to distance to leave the park, but was caught at the fence by Kellie Middleton for the second out.
Georgia came back in the top of the fifth inning with two outs on a walk by Middleton. On a stolen base by Middleton, a muffed throw by Andrea Smith covering second allowed her to advance to third. On a short fly ball to left field by Courtney Knight that appeared would drop and allow Middleton to score, Harris came up with a laid out diving catch to end the inning and save the run.
The Tigers had another opportunity in the bottom half of the inning. Lauren Delahoussaye led off with a single through the left side. With Dee Dee Henderson running for Delahoussaye at first, Henderson moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Smith. A bunt single by Castle put runners at first and third. Heidi Robin came in to run for Castle at first and stole second, but Harris grounded out to third before a fly ball to center by Soto ended the inning.
The Bulldogs had another chance in the top of the sixth. With one out, McAllister drew a walk. With Charvi Greer running for McAllister at first, Alison Horne attempted a sacrifice bunt. On the play, Delahoussaye threw the ball into center field trying to get Greer going to second, allowing Greer to move to third and Horne to advance to second. An intentional walk to Jessica Doucette loaded the bases.
Turner then got Ashley Godfrey to pop into the infield fly to second base for the second out of the inning. Victoria Sanders then grounded out to Turner on a great snag in the circle to end the inning with the bases loaded once again.
In the bottom of the sixth, LSU finally got on the board. Klein led off with her third home run of the season to left center field. Hill then reached on a fielding error by the shortstop. With Shannon Stein pinch running for Hill, Stein advanced to second on a sacrifice attempt by Duhon as she reached on a fielding error by the second baseman.
“Quinlan almost hit one, Soto almost hit one and then Klein finally got all of one,” said Girouard about Klein’s home run.
With runners at first and second, Erika Sluss came on to pinch hit for Roessner. Sluss singled up the middle to score Stein and run the score to 2-0 in favor of the Tigers. With one out, Smith reached on a fielder’s choice as Duhon advanced to third on a muffed throw by the third baseman that loaded the bases. An unassisted ground out by Castle allowed Duhon to score to run the score to the final to 3-0 in favor of LSU.
“We had the timely hits today and that is what we haven’t been getting,” said Girouard. “It was nice to see some of the bats coming alive. Klein hit the ball that started the rally. It was good to see Hill come back and to see Del swing the bat. Those are the bats that we need to have in our lineup and they need to be consistent in the primetime situations.”
Doucette took the complete-game loss for the Bulldogs to fall to 7-4 on the season. She allowed three runs, one earned, on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
The Tigers return to action this week against Northwestern State in a doubleheader at Tiger Park beginning at 4 p.m. LSU will then travel to Lexington, Ky., to face Kentucky in a three-game SEC series next weekend.