BATON ROUGE — The 11th-ranked LSU softball team had its 13-game winning streak snapped as the Fighting Tigers fell to No. Auburn, 1-0, in the final game of the Southeastern Conference series on Sunday afternoon at Tiger Park.
The loss dropped LSU to 38-6 overall and 12-3 in SEC play, while AU improved to 25-12, 7-8 in league action. The Fighting Tigers swept the doubleheader on Saturday to open the series and finished the series win 2-1.
LSU left 13 runners on base for the game, including eight in scoring position for the game. Despite eight combined walks by Auburn pitchers and four hits for the purple and gold, LSU could not push a run across the plate for just the fourth time this season.
“The bottom line is we just didn’t get it done today,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We left too many people on base. We didn’t have anyone step up until the last inning and credit Auburn for making some incredible plays to keep them in the game. When you leave 13 players on base, you are not going to win too many ballgames.”
LSU had several opportunities in the first five innings, but could not push a run across. The Fighting Tigers stranded 10 runners through five innings, while leaving the bases loaded in both the second and the fifth and leaving a runner on third in the third.
Despite only having one hit through the first five innings, Auburn came back with three hits in the top of the sixth to score the first run of the game. Myesha Finney led off with a single to left center. With one out, Holly Currie reached on a fielder’s choice as Finney was thrown out going to second. With two outs, Tatiana Fernandez singled up the middle to put runners on first and second. A double to left center by Tara Donaldson scored Currie from second for the 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Lauren Delahoussaye nailed a line drive to open the inning, but the hit was caught by Kristina McCain, who almost lost her glove on the play because the ball was hit with such force. Leslie Klein then reached on a one-out single into center field. With the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate, Stephanie Hill hit a ball deep into right center field that appeared may have the distance to leave the park and for the walk-off win, but it was caught at the warning track by Amy Shaw as she hit the fence.
On the outstanding catch by Shaw in center field, Klein advanced to second on a close play to put the tying run in scoring position. A walk to Quinlan Duhon put the winning run on first, but Killian Roessner could not beat out an infield grounder to second to end the game.
Emily Turner was the tough luck loser for LSU, falling to 16-3 on the season despite an outstanding effort. The junior allowed just one run on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in the complete-game. It snapped a string of eight consecutive wins, including seven wins in seven consecutive starts.
Beth DiPietro earned the win for Auburn in relief. She allowed just one hits with three walks and no strikeouts in three innings to improve to 12-4 on the season. Brittany Day started and allowed three hits and five walks with two strikeouts in four innings.
The Fighting Tigers return to action on Wednesday against McNeese State at 6 p.m. at Tiger Park. LSU topped the Cowgirls, 3-1, in nine innings in Lake Charles earlier in the season. The Tigers have never lost to McNeese State and hold a 13-0 record all-time against the Cowgirls.
LSU will then travel to No. 3 Alabama for a three-game SEC series on Friday at Saturday before Easter Sunday. The Crimson Tide currently lead the conference with a perfect 15-0 mark, while the Tigers are three games behind in second in the SEC West and third overall behind Georgia.