BATON ROUGE — No. 9 LSU split a pair of contests on day two of the Easton Purple & Gold Challenge at Tiger Park, falling to Penn State, 3-0, before rebounding with a 4-2 win over Tulsa, to earn the tournament’s second seed heading into championship play on Sunday.
The Purple & Gold Challenge will conclude with championship bracket play on Sunday. Due to an early flight, the first two games have had to be flip-flopped to accommodate an early flight by top-seeded Penn State. The Nittany Lions have to play in the day’s first game at 9:30 a.m. against fourth-seeded Tulsa. As the second seed, LSU will now play in the day’s second game against third-seeded South Alabama at 11:45 a.m.
Because of its travel restrictions, Penn State forfeits its right to the tournament championship because it will not be here to play in the championship game if it defeats Tulsa. In that scenario, if Penn State wins, then the tournament champion would be decided by the winner of the LSU vs. South Alabama game and no 2 p.m. championship game would be played. If the Nittany Lions lose to Tulsa, then the 2 p.m. championship game will be played as scheduled with Tulsa facing the winner of the LSU-South Alabama game.
With the split on Saturday, the Tigers moved to 13-4 on the season and 3-1 in tournament play. Penn State improved to 6-4 overall and 3-1 in the Purple & Gold Challenge to earn the top seed going into Sunday’s championship play. Tulsa dropped to 7-9 on the year and 1-2 in tournament action.
LSU struggled at the plate the entire day. The Tigers recorded only one hit against Penn State in the first game, recording only a leadoff single by Killian Roessner in the top of the second. Against Tulsa, LSU was held hitless until the fourth inning before finishing with four hits, including two doubles, for the game.
“I thought we were flat,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “I’m not sure why. You only get so many opportunities to put your uniform on, so I’m not sure why you would come out flat. We look like we’re just going through the motions.”
In the nightcap, freshman Casey Faile got her first career start in the circle as well as at the plate. The Kershaw, S.C., native earned her first win in a complete-game effort, allowing two runs on five hits with a pair of walks and six strikeouts. At the plate, she contributed to the effort, going 1-for-3 with a double that set up the go-ahead two-RBI double by Shannon Stein.
“I thought Casey pitched a good game,” said Girouard. “She pitched a complete game and got her own RBIs.”
Tulsa got on the board first when Lauren Lindsay led off the game with a solo home run to center field. The Golden Hurricane extended its lead to 2-0 in the top of the third. With two outs, Sara Dyer doubled to center field, scoring Lindsay from first base.
A timely error by the Golden Hurricane in the bottom of the fourth proved to be Tulsa’s undoing as LSU capitalized with all four of its runs in the game. Roessner led off with a single to right field, the Tigers’ first hit of the game. With Dee Dee Henderson running for her at first, Henderson advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Quinlan Duhon.
On a ground ball to shortstop by Erika Sluss, the Golden Hurricane shortstop Kelly Chapman booted the ball, allowing Henderson to come around to score. Faile then doubled to left center, sending Sluss to third. An Ashley Applegate ground out scored Sluss from third to tie the game and pushed Tiffany Shaw, running for Faile, to third. A walk by Jazz Jackson put runners on the corners. Stein then came up with her fifth double of the season, pushing Shaw and Jackson across for the game-winning runs.
After LSU took the lead, Faile proceeded to shut Tulsa down at the plate. The freshman faced only one over the minimum over the final three innings to preserve her first career win. Katie Lee took the complete-game loss for the Golden Hurricane to fall to 1-3 on the season. She allowed four runs, all unearned, on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Against Penn State in the earlier contest, the Tigers could get nothing going at the plate. With the exception of a lone single by Roessner, LSU failed have another base runner on for the game. With Shaw being caught stealing while running for Roessner, the Nittany Lions faced the minimum 21 batters in the contest.
Penn State got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. Danielle Kinley led off with a home run to center field to break the scoreless tie. The Nittany Lions would then add two more in the bottom of the fifth to secure the win. An RBI double by Ashley Griffith scored Shana Madura before a single up the middle by Kinley scored Griffith to run the score to the final of 3-0.
Dani Hofer started and took the loss for the Tigers, falling to 7-2 on the season. The junior allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts in four and a third innings. Tiffany Garcia came on in relief in the fifth and allowed a lone hit in an inning and two-thirds.
Ashley Esparza earned the complete-game win to improve to 3-3 on the year. She allowed the lone hit and struck out three in the contest, coaxing nine infield groundout s and eight infield pop outs from the Tiger lineup.
Next weekend, LSU will open defense of its 2007 Southeastern Conference Western Division title as the Tigers host nationally ranked Georgia in a three-game series at Tiger Park. The series begins on Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and concludes with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. Saturday’s first game will be televised regionally on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37.
LSU 000 000 0 – 0 1 0
PSU 000 120 x – 3 6 0
Dani Hofer, Tiffany Garcia (5) and Killian Roessner. Ashley Esparza and Hollee Haines. WP ? Esparza (3-3). LP ? Hofer (7-2). S ? None. HR ? Danielle Kinley. T ? 1:26.
Tulsa 101 000 0 – 2 5 1
LSU 000 400 x – 4 4 0
Katie Lee and Christian Timmons. Casey Faile and Killian Roessner. WP ? Faile (1-0). LP ? Lee (1-3). S ? None. HR ? Lauren Lindsay. T ? 1:39. A ? 836.