BATON ROUGE — The 14th complete-game shutout of the season by Emily Turner led the 10th-ranked LSU softball team to a 5-0 win over No. 24 Florida on Sunday afternoon for Senior Day at Tiger Park.
With their fifth Southeastern Conference sweep of the season, the Tigers improved to 48-9 on the year and 21-6 in league play. The Gators dropped to 38-22 overall and 14-13 in conference action.
LSU is now a game and a half behind Alabama in the SEC West and Georgia in the overall standings. The Tigers and Crimson Tide each have three games remaining, while the Bulldogs have completed SEC play, wrapping up the SEC Eastern Division championship with a win over Tennessee on Sunday.
“I think this was certainly a positive after we kind of tripped all over ourselves getting out of the bus mid-week,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard of the Tiger rebound after losing 2-of-3 at Arkansas on Tuesday and Wednesday. “I was glad to see the intensity and the locked in look, especially out of Emily, because she threw very well this weekend.
“We were opportunistic. We scored when we had runners on base. The key is for us to score first because we win about 99.9-percent of the time when we score first.”
Prior to the start of the game, LSU honored its four seniors for “Senior Day”. The Tigers held the emotional pregame presentation for Lauren Castle, Lauren Delahoussaye, Camille Harris and Stephanie Hill.
“I am glad for the seniors to go out as winners at Tiger Park,” said Girouard. “Hopefully it’s not their last game here, but I was really glad for them. The seniors have been a part of a world series, some SEC championships and a legacy of winning and playing hard and being passionate about putting the LSU Tiger uniform on. They made sure that they went out the way that this LSU program has always been, among the elite in the country.”
Turner earned her 14th complete-game shutout of the season, tying her for fourth in LSU single-season history with former Women’s College World Series Most Outstanding Player Kristin Schmidt in 2004. She scattered five hits with two walks with seven strikeouts to improve to 22-5 on the season.
Hill and Leslie Klein each posted multiple-hit days, with both going 2-for-3 while Klein recorded a double, two RBIs and one run scored. Delahoussaye and Quinlan Duhon added an RBI each for the Tigers.
“What I really liked was the way we executed,” said Girouard. “We put the bunt down when we need to and then get the hit that scores two runs. That’s perfect execution of fundamental fastpitch softball. You move the runners over and your primetime RBI people come through. You usually win a lot of games when that happens.”
LSU came out and took the early lead. Castle led off the bottom of the first with a bunt single. A walk to Harris moved Castle to second. The pair moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Hill. Klein then recorded a two-run double off the fence in left field to give the Tigers the 2-0 advantage.
“After yesterdays second game, we knew that they would either come out ready to beat the world or they may come out a bit deflated, but we didn’t know which one,” said Girouard. “We needed to make a statement quickly to show that we weren’t going to lie down. I’m proud of the team for that.”
In the bottom of the fourth, LSU added a third run. Duhon reached on a fielding error by the shortstop. With Dee Dee Henderson running for Duhon, Henderson stole second. On a sacrifice bunt attempt by Delahoussaye, pitcher Stacey Stevens throw to first was off the mark, allowing Henderson to move to third. Delahoussaye went to second on the play as center fielder Lacy Howard came in to cover second, but bobbled the ball, allowing Henderson to score from third.
Hill led off the fifth inning with a single to left field. With Stein running for Hill, she moved to second on a bunt single by Klein. A ground out by Vanessa Soto pushed the runners to second and third. A sacrifice fly by Duhon scored Stein from third. Delahoussaye then doubled to right center, scoring Klein from second to run the score to 5-0.
Stevens took the loss for Florida to fall to 17-6 on the season. She allowed five runs, four earned, on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Stacey Nelson came on in relief and struck out one in an inning of work.
LSU will close out the regular season next weekend as the Tigers travel to face nationally ranked Tennessee. LSU will face the Lady Vols in a three game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon (CT) and concluding with a single game on Sunday at noon (CT). The first game of the series will be televised on ESPN2, while the final game will be televised on ESPNU.