BATON ROUGE — A crowd of nearly 1,000 saw an offensive explosion by the seventh-ranked LSU softball team that led the Tigers to a pair of easy wins on Saturday in the Easton Tiger Classic, knocking off Nicholls State, 9-1, in six innings and Chattanooga, 9-1, in five innings at Tiger Park.
With the wins, LSU remained undefeated at 4-0 on the season. The Tigers will now play on Sunday as the tournament’s No. 1 seed. LSU will take on the fourth-seeded Ball State Cardinals at 11:45 a.m., with the winner advancing to the championship game at 2 p.m. Second-seeded Chattanooga will face third-seeded Nicholls State at 9 a.m. with the winner also advancing to the title game.
Hitting .365 as a team on the day, the Tigers posted a .673 slugging percentage. LSU recorded four doubles and four home runs on the day, including three home runs against Nicholls State. Shannon Stein led the way with a 4-for-6 performance, including a home run, while Quinlan Duhon was also 4-for-6 with a double, a home run and four RBIs. The Tigers were also speedy on the base paths as LSU was a perfect 15-for-15 on the day for stolen bases, including three each by Rachel Mitchell, Dee Dee Henderson and Tiffany Shaw.
In the circle, the Tigers got a complete-game performance from Dani Hofer against Chattanooga. The junior allowed only one hit on a home run with two walks and 11 strikeouts in five innings. Hofer is now 2-0 on the season after a win over Ball State on Friday. Cody Trahan also improved to 2-0 on the year with a win over Nicholls. The sophomore allowed one run on four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in five and a third innings. Casey Faile came on to close out the game, striking out both batters she faced.
“I was pleased with all aspects of the games today,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “Shannon Stein is having a great weekend. We are showing we can produce different lineups, and different players are stepping up. Casey Faile struck out four of the five batters she faced. We’re going to be a very fun team to watch.”
Against the Lady Mocs, the Tigers posted a run in every inning to knock off the only other undefeated team in the tournament at the time. LSU got it going in the first with a two-run double by Quinlan Duhon.
After Chattanooga got its only run of the game on a solo home run in the top of the second, an RBI double by Jazz Jackson scored Stein from second to put the Tigers ahead by two once again in the second. LSU pushed it to a three-run lead on an RBI fielder’s choice by Henderson that scored Tiffany Shaw from third.
Tayl’r Hollis pounded her second home run of the tournament in the bottom of the fourth. The three-run shot cleared the center field fence to score Rachel Mitchell and Duhon. Killian Roessner then ended the game on a two-RBI walk-off single in the bottom of the third. The drive through the right side scored Ashley Applegate and Mitchell to give LSU the eight-run victory.
“I was infatuated by the fact that we scored in every inning,” said Girouard.” That was a goal of ours, and it is something you don’t often see. There’s a whole different mindset that we want to take the fight out onto the field to somebody.”
Against the Colonels, the Tigers got on the board in the top of the third inning. Erika Sluss hit her first home run of the season, a three-run shot off the scoreboard in left center field. LSU added a run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Killian Roessner that scored Jackson from third.
The Tigers exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth to put the game away. Stein led off the inning with a home run to left field. With one out and runners on second and third, a pair of throwing errors by the Nicholls State third baseman and first baseman put Roessner on as Henderson and Rachel Mitchell scored. Duhon then hit a home run down the left field line to close out the scoring for LSU.
The Colonels got their only run on the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Whitney Roan reached walked and came around to score after back-to-back sacrifice bunts and an RBI single by Kodi Butler.
The Tigers now advance to a rematch with Ball State, the team that gave LSU its closest game of the tournament. The Tigers knocked off the Cardinals, 4-2, on Friday night. After LSU got two runs in the first, Ball State tied it up on a two-run home run. The Tigers re-took the lead on an RBI double by Stein before putting the game away on an RBI single by Stein. Hofer earned the win in the game, allowing only two unearned runs on two hits in the complete-game effort.
“I thought they played us very well last night,” said Girouard. “They were up to play us and gave us all we could handle. Tiffany (Garcia) will get the start for us. She hasn’t had a chance to throw yet.”
In other tournament action on Saturday, Chattanooga defeated Ball State, 9-0, in five innings to finish bracket play at 3-1; Ball State knocked off St. John’s, 11-2, in five innings to complete bracket play at 1-3 and Nicholls State defeated St. John’s, 8-6, to finish bracket play at 2-0. St. John’s went winless in tournament action at 0-4 and does not advance to bracket play on Sunday.
LSU 031 005 – 9 8 0
Nicholls State 000 010 – 1 4 3
Cody Trahan; Casey Faile (6) and Killian Roessner. Jessica Barksdale; Lacey Gros (6) and Nicole Smith, Haley Burkett. WP Cody Trahan (2-0). LP – Jessica Barksdale (0-2). Save ?None. HR ? Quinlan Duhon, Erika Sluss, Shannon Stein. T-2:09.
Chattanooga 010 00 – 1 1 0
LSU 211 32 – 9 11 0
Kandice Irwin, Kaitlin Holloway (4) and Katie Blevins. Dani Hofer and Killian Roessner. WP ? Dani Hofer (2-0). LP ? Kandice Irwin (2-1). Save ? None. HR ? Katie Blevins; Tayl’r Hollis. T -1:38. A ? 939.
Easton Tiger Classic Schedule:
Sunday, February 17
9:30 a.m. No. 2 Chattanooga vs. No. 3 Nicholls State
11:45 a.m. No. 1 LSU vs. No. 4 Ball State
2 p.m. Championship Game