BATON ROUGE — Behind a one-hit performance through five innings by Dani Hofer, the sixth-ranked LSU softball team shut out Southeastern Louisiana, which is receiving votes in the national polls, 7-0, on Tuesday evening at Tiger Park.
With the win, the Tigers remain undefeated at 7-0 on the season. The Lady Lions suffered only their second set-back of the year as they fell to 8-2. LSU returns to action this weekend at the prestigious Palm Springs Classic. The Tigers will face No. 2 Northwestern, No. 9 Arizona and No. 23 Cal State Fullerton as part of the three-day round robin tournament.
“I am very pleased with how our team has looked through the first week of play,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “There does not appear to be an easy out in our line-up. Dani looked a little shaky at times last weekend, so we decided to get her a little extra work before we head out to Palm Springs. She took advantage and had a very nice outing.”
LSU’s offensive explosion continued on Tuesday as the Tigers recorded two more doubles and a home run. With a slugging percentage over .600, LSU has recorded 25 extra base hits, including seven home runs, in just the first seven games. The speed of the Tiger line-up remains evident as LSU swiped five bases and now have 37 stolen bases in just seven games, averaging over five steals a contest.
“This team has tremendous speed and that puts a lot of pressure on defenses,” said Girouard. “We are trying to be very aggressive on the base paths and force defenses to make plays. We have the ability to steal second or third at any time and can stretch singles into doubles and score from second. That makes a team a lot of fun to watch.”
After walking the leadoff batter of the game, Hofer gave up her only hit of the contest with a one-out single by Heather Sherrill. The junior pitcher then went on to strike out the next seven batters before Katie Duhe ended the streak with a foul out in the fourth inning. Casey Faile came on in relief in the seventh and retired the first four batters she faced before giving up a hit to Sherrill. After allowing another hit, Southeastern loaded the bases on an LSU infield error. Faile then struck out the final batter of the game.
Hofer improved to 4-0 on the season. She allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out nine in five innings of work. Faile came on in the sixth and gave up two hits with three strikeouts and has now struck out seven of the first 19 batters she has faced in her collegiate career.
The Tigers got on the board in the bottom of the third inning. Dee Dee Henderson’s speed helped propel her to a double to lead off the inning on hit to center field. A single up the middle by Jazz Jackson scored Henderson for the first run of the game. Both Henderson and Jackson finished the contest with three hits each.
A fielder’s choice got Jackson going to second as Rachel Mitchell reached base. Killian Roessner then hit her first home run of the season to put LSU ahead, 3-0. The blast down the left field line just remained fair to allow Roessner to circle the bases.
The Tigers added one more in the fourth. After a leadoff single up the middle by Ashley Applegate to start the inning, Henderson singled to center field to move Applegate to second. An infield single by Jackson loaded the bases. On a line drive to center field, Applegate was able to score from third for the sacrifice fly and stretch the lead to 4-0.
LSU posted three unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth to get within one run of its fifth run-rule win of the season. With one out, Jackson reached on a fielding error by the second baseman. On a single through the right side by Mitchell, Jackson moved all the way to third. Jackson then scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Roessner.
A walk by Tayl’r Hollis put runners on first and second. On a pickoff throw by the Southeastern catcher, Mitchell stole third. She came around to score as the throw by the catcher sailed into center field. Hollis also advanced to second on the play. Erika Sluss closed out the scoring for the game with a single up the middle that scored Hollis.
Jenna Yoder went the distance for the Lady Lions, falling to 3-1 on the season. She allowed seven runs, four of which were earned, on 12 hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
This weekend, the Tigers begin play on Friday against Florida Atlantic at 5 p.m. CT, before facing Pacific at 10 p.m. CT. LSU will continue play on Saturday, taking on No. 17 Cal State Fullerton at 2:30 p.m. CT and No. 6 Northwestern at 8 p.m. CT. The Tigers will close out the tournament against No. 1 Arizona on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.
SLU 000 000 0 – 0 3 3
LSU 003 103 x – 7 12 1
Jenna Yoder and Allyson McCubbins. Dani Hofer, Casey Faile (6) and Killian Roessner. WP ? Dani Hofer (4-0). LP ? Jenna Joder (3-1). S ? None. HR ? Killian Roessner. T ? 1:51. A ? 589.