BATON ROUGE — A pair of home runs and three errors by Princeton led the top-seeded LSU softball team over the fourth-seeded Tigers of Princeton, 5-0, on Friday evening at Tiger Park in the first round of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
With the win, the Fighting Tigers of LSU improved to 52-12 on the season and advance to face third-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at 1p.m. for the right to advance to the regional championship game on Sunday. ULL was a 2-0 winner over second-seeded NC State in the tournament’s first game on Friday.
“It’s a game with two great programs,” LSU head coach Yvette Girouard said of LSU’s match-up against Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday. “It will be a ton of fun in the stands and on the field. I am sure they will bring their ‘A’ game and the state of Louisiana can be proud of both teams.”
The loss dropped Princeton to 34-18 on the year. The Tigers will face elimination against the Wolfpack at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of that game will face the loser of the LSU-ULL game on Saturday at 7 p.m. Sunday’s championship game begins at 1 p.m. with an “if necessary” game to be played at 4 p.m.
The Fighting Tigers broke through with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, breaking up a perfect game by Princeton pitcher Erin Snyder. LSU used a two-out error to score a pair of runs before an RBI single by Stephanie Hill gave the Fighting Tigers the 3-0 lead.
“I thought it was a workman-like performance by the Tigers, which we have done many times this year,” said Girouard. “Princeton kind of opened the door for us and we took full advantage of it. I thought we looked a little tight for the first three or four innings. We have five players on the field that have never experienced this (NCAA Regional) before, but those weren’t the ones that were tight.”
Solo home runs by Andrea Smith and Vanessa Soto in the fifth and sixth inning respectively put the game away for LSU as the Fighting Tigers improved to 25-14 in eight NCAA Tournament appearances. For the game, Princeton, the NCAA’s seventh-best fielding team, committed three errors, marking just the second time the Tigers have committed three errors in a game this season.
“We are not known for that (home runs) but we just needed to swing the bat,” said Girouard. “We looked so timid and not a lot of goods things happen when the bat is sitting on your shoulders. I have to give credit to those who did swing the bat and very positive things happen to them.”
Dani Hofer (16-5) earned the complete-game shutout for LSU, her eighth of the season. The freshman hurler scattered four hits with a walk while striking out seven, her most K’s since strikeout out 13 against McNeese State on April 12.
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, LSU broke up the perfect game by Snyder on a hit by pitch by Camille Harris. The career record holder, it was the 14th hit by pitch of the season for Harris, tying her single-season record for getting plunked.
A single through the left side by Leslie Klein moved Harris to second and gave the Fighting Tigers their first hit of the game. With two outs, Killian Roessner hit a ground ball to third, but an errant throw by Tiffany Andras allowed both Harris and Klein to score as Roessner took second. A single up the middle by Hill then scored Roessner to give LSU the 3-0 advantage.
After an infield single by the leadoff batter of the game, Hofer came back to retire 12 of the next 14 batters before giving up her next hit to lead off the top of the fifth. A pair of singles in the inning put a runner in scoring position for just the second time in the game. Hofer then got back-to-back fly outs to end the threat.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Fighting Tigers extended their lead. Smith led off the inning with a solo home run to left field. It was her sixth homer of the season, which ranks second on the team this year. A one-out home run by Soto in the bottom of the sixth gave LSU the 5-0 advantage. Soto moved into a tie for the team lead with her seventh homer of the year.
“Dani did a great job after that first inning,” said Girouard, “and Andrea kept swinging the bat and she got one to go out.”
Hofer retired six of the final seven batters of the game, allowing just a one-out double in the top of the sixth, with two strikeouts. Snyder took the loss and fell to 16-5 on the year. She allowed five runs, two earned, on four hits with four strikeouts in the complete-game effort.
2006 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional
Game 2: (4) Princeton vs. (1) LSU
May 19, 2006
LSU QUOTES
Head Coach Yvette Girouard
Opening statement…
“I thought it was a workman-like performance by the Tigers, which we have done many times this year. Princeton kind of opened the door for us and we took full advantage of it. I thought we looked a little tight for the first three or four innings We only have five players on the field that have never experienced this before (NCAA Regional) but those weren’t the ones that were tight. Dani did a great job after that first inning and Andrea kept swinging the bat and she got one to go out.”
On the team only having four hits but getting two home runs…
“We are not known for that but we just needed to swing the bat. We looked so timid and not a lot of goods things happen when it is sitting on your shoulders. I have to give credit to those who did swing the bat and very positive things happen to them.”
On tomorrow’s game against Louisiana-Lafayette…
“It’s just a game. It’s a game with two great programs. It will be a ton of fun in the stands and on the field. I am sure they will bring their A game and the state of Louisiana can be proud of both teams.”
On facing her old team…
“The biggest tug-of-war was seeing so many friendly faces and getting so many hugs. I still have a lot of good friends in Lafayette and have a home near there. Right now I coach 19 girls that wear purple and that’s all I see.”
Pitcher Dani Hofer
On her performance…
“I thought I did a pretty good job, but I could have done better. I mainly worked with the coaches and catchers on location and I tried to bring that work into the game.”
On coach Girourad going to talk to her on the mound…
“It was nice to take a little break to clear my thoughts. It let me focus on the batters.”
Shortstop Andrea Smith
On her homerun…
“Obviously if you guys (media) watched the game my first two swings didn’t go well but I just looked at Coach (Girouard) and she told me to keep swinging. She always says to make sure to get my timing down so I made sure I got my foot down on time and it turned out to be a good hit.”
2006 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional
Game 2: (1) LSU vs. (4) Princeton
May 19, 2006
PRINCETON QUOTES
Head Coach Maureen Barron
Opening Statement…
“LSU played a great game. They were swinging the bats really well. We were playing well in the game into we had a break down defensively against the LSU batters, our errors at that point cost us the game. But I was proud of the way our girls came out.”
On LSU’s pitching selection…
“They didn’t really catch us off guard, we didn’t know who to expect to see. They’re both (Emily Turner and Dani Hofer) really good pitchers, we knew it was going to be one of the two. Hofer threw a nice game, she made some nice plays.”
On Princeton pitching…
“I think Erin (Snyder) was throwing a really good game. For her personally she had a great game. It seems like you make an error, you hit a batter, or you get a walk, and it gets rough there, and up until that part of the game she threw a really good game.”