BATON ROUGE — The sixth-ranked LSU softball team earned their seventh Easton Purple & Gold Challenge championship as the Tigers defeated Troy, 13-0 in five innings, and Louisiana Tech, 10-1 in five innings, on Sunday afternoon at Tiger Park.
With the wins, LSU moved to 17-1 on the season and 6-0 in tournament play. The Trojans fell to 9-3 on the season and finished 3-3 in the Challenge. The Lady Techsters dropped to 10-9 and were 2-4 in the tournament.
“Our goal this weekend was to win the championship,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We came into the weekend thinking that we should win because we go into everything thinking we should win, and we achieved our goal.”
Sophomore Dani Hofer (7-0) earned Most Valuable Player honors, going 3-0 for the weekend with a no-hitter and three shutouts. In three complete-games, she allowed just three hits and three walks while striking out 29 in 14 innings.
Against Southern Miss on Saturday, she threw her second no-hitter of the season, after allowing only one hit against Southern Miss on Friday. She came out and threw a two-hitter in her final appearance of the weekend against Louisiana Tech.
In addition, Emily Turner, Jazz Jackson and Leslie Klein were named to the all-tournament team. Turner finished 2-0 on the weekend with 20 strikeouts. She threw a one-hitter against Troy in her first outing and allowed just two hits in her finale against Louisiana Tech. Jackson led the tournament with 13 hits and a .722 average, including a double and a triple and four RBIs. Klein led the tournament with 10 RBIs, while hitting .444 with a double, two triples and a home run.
“The pitching was just phenomenal and we have dangerous hitter 1-9 and everybody is contributing right now,” said Girouard. “We had some people who were struggling earlier and they seem to be swinging the bats better. The people that were plugged in, like Erika Sluss, have done a great job.”
The Tigers were dominant through the tournament, outscoring their opponents, 53-2 in six games. LSU posted five run-rule victories, with only its first game of tournament play going the entire seven innings. Tiger pitching allowed just two runs on seven hits and struck out 62, averaging over 13 strikeouts per seven innings.
LSU was equally as impressive at the plate. The Tigers hit .414 as a team with 11 doubles, five triples and seven home runs. Five players hit over .400 for the weekend as LSU averaged almost nine runs a game.
“It makes it easier to swing the bats freely when your pitchers are dominating opponents like we are,” said Girouard. “When you have pitchers who are striking out 14 batters, it also makes your defensive effort much easier.”
On the final day, Klein led the Tigers with five hits, including a double, a triple and four RBIs. Jackson was just behind with four hits, two RBIs and five runs scored. In addition, Rachel Mitchell, Shannon Stein and Erika Sluss recorded multiple hit outings.
Against Troy, LSU got on the board early with a pair of runs in the top of the first. Jackson led off the game with a walk. On a bunt single by Mitchell, Jackson moved to second. On a sacrifice bunt attempt by Klein, Jackson came around to score as Klein reached on the throwing error by the second baseman and Mitchell moved to third. Klein was thrown out on the play attempting to take second. Mitchell later scored on a wild pitch as the Tigers led 2-0.
In the top of the fourth, LSU added two more runs. Sluss reached on a fielding error by the third baseman to star the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Andrea Smith sent her to second. Stein then doubled down the left field line to score Sluss. Jackson then moved Stein to third on a sacrifice bunt. A single to left field by Mitchell scored Stein.
Hofer allowed her only hits of the game in the fourth inning. Heidi Johnson led off with a single to center field. Stacey Dwyer then laid down a perfect bunt single to reach as Johnson moved to second. Hofer then came back to coax Jessica Lyle into a double play that also got Dwyer at second, before striking out Courtney Davis to end the inning.
The Tigers put the game away with nine runs in the fifth inning, the most runs in an inning for LSU this season, including a pair of homers. With one out, Vanessa Soto and Killian Roessner drew back-to-back walks. Sluss then pounded her second home run of the tournament to left center.
Dee Dee Henderson, pinch hitting for Smith, singled to left field and then stole second. A double to left center by Stein scored Henderson. Jackson then singled to right center, scoring Stein, as Jackson moved to second on the throw. On a fly out to center field, Jackson advanced to third.
Klein then got her first RBI of the day as she beat out an infield single that allowed Jackson to score. On the play, Klein advanced to second as the throw from the second baseman was inaccurate and sailed into the Troy dugout. In her second at-bat of the inning, Duhon hit her team-best fifth home run of the season to left field, scoring Klein on the round tripper.
Soto then came up and singled through the right side. A walk by Cody Trahan sent Soto to third. Sluss was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed Soto to score as the Tigers ended the inning ahead, 13-0.
Hofer started and went four innings, allowing just two hits with five strikeouts. Tiffany Garcia came on in relief in the fifth and allowed a walk with two strikeouts to close out the game.
Heather Rush started and took the loss for Troy to fall to 1-1 on the season. She allowed seven runs, four earned, on six hits with seven walks and a strikeout in four and two-thirds. Michelle Grinage came on and allowed six runs on six hits in two-thirds of an inning.
In their finale against Louisiana Tech, LSU put up a run in ever inning, including five in the second. The Tigers got on the board in the first as Jackson recorded a bunt single and then stole second. She moved to third and then scored on a pair of wild pitches.
With one out in the second, Sluss drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Smith also walked before the pair moved to second and third on a wild pitch. On a fielder’s choice by Jackson, Stein advanced to second on the fielding error by the shortstop as Sluss scored and Smith moved to third.
A single through the left side by Mitchell scored Stein and Smith as Mitchell moved to second and Jackson took third on the throw. Klein also singled through the left side to score Stein and Smith as LSU led, 6-0.
Wild pitches again led to a Tiger run in the third inning. Smith reached on a walk. She moved to second on a single by Jackson. A fly out to left field allowed Smith to take third. She then scored on a wild pitch. Klein posted her second triple of the weekend to score Jackson from third.
Louisiana Tech got its only run of the game in the top of the fourth. Regan Clark led off with a walk. With two outs, Ashley Cameron doubled to center field to score Sarah Offutt, who was pinch running for Clark.
LSU closed out the scoring in the game in the bottom half of the inning. An RBI double by Roessner scored Kristin Hobbs, who had reached on a walk to start the inning. Mitchell had a sacrifice fly that scored Sluss as the Tigers ran the final to 10-1.
Turner started and earned the win for the Tigers to improve to 6-1 on the year. She allowed one run on two hits with two walks and six strikeouts in four innings. Trahan came on in relief and struck out all three batters she faced in the fifth.
Mandi Bertsch took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the year. She allowed seven runs, six earned, on just three hits, with six walks in two innings. Courtney Avery allowed three runs on five hits with two walks in two innings.
LSU returns to action again on Tuesday with a doubleheader against Alcorn State, which upset nationally ranked UL-Lafayette on Friday. The first game will begin at 4 p.m., with the second game following 20 minutes after the conclusion of game one. The Tigers travel to Seattle next weekend for the University of Washington Tournament. LSU will take on the nationally ranked Huskies, Portland State and North Dakota State in the three-day round robin tournament.
LSU 200 29 – 13 12 0
Troy 000 00 – 0 2 3
Dani Hofer, Tiffany Garcia (5) and Killian Roessner. Heather Rush, Michelle Grinage (5) and Felicia Hammer. WP ? Hofer (7-0). LP ? Rush (1-1) S ? None. HR ? Quinlan Duhon, Erika Sluss. T ? 1:39.
Louisiana Tech 000 10 – 1 2 1
LSU 152 2x – 10 8 1
Mandi Bertsch, Courtney Avery (3) and Regan Clark. Emily Turner, Cody Trahan (5) and Kristen Hobbs. WP ? Turner (6-2). LP ? Bertsch (0-1). S ? None. T ? 1:35. A ? 607.
Easton Purple & Gold Challenge All-Tournament Team
Jazz Jackson ? LSU
Leslie Klein ? LSU
Emily Turner ? LSU
Rochelle Sandberg ? Louisiana Tech
Brandi Alonzo ? Southern Miss
Megan Hill ? Southern Miss
Heidi Johnson ? Troy
Amanda Ragans ? Troy
MVP: Dani Hofer – LSU