BATON ROUGE — Shannon Stein‘s pinch hit single in the bottom of the 11th inning scored Killian Roessner from third and gave No. 10 LSU a marathon 7-6 win over Troy on Tuesday night at Tiger Park.
With the win, the Tigers recorded their 20th win of the season and improved to 20-4 on the year. The loss dropped the Trojans to 11-12 overall and snapped a three-game winning streak for Troy. The 11 innings played marked the longest game for both teams this season and the longest game for LSU since defeating Michigan, 3-2, in 13 innings in the 2004 Women’s College World Series.
“Absolutely a much longer game than I anticipated,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “The intent was to rest some people but we had to pull out all the stops. We could have ended it a whole lot earlier, but we didn’t get it done. The bottom line is we won.”
Resting an injured hand, Stein came on with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 11th and drove an 0-2 pitch through the right side to push across the game-winning run. Roessner, who started the game at designated player before moving behind the plate in the sixth, doubled to right center with one out to get the rally started. An infield by Quinlan Duhon moved Roessner to third before Erika Sluss was intentionally walked to load the bases for Stein’s walk-off win.
“I give Stein a lot of credit to have her wits about her,” Girouard said about the captain coming in cold off the bench. “She came in and swung the bat and got it done. She hit the ball to the right side and really that’s all we needed in that situation, a hit to the right side.”
Roessner led LSU at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance. The senior All-American was intentionally walked twice after hitting her team-leading seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth. With a single, double and home run, Roessner finished only a triple short of the cycle while knocking in two and scoring twice.
Dee Dee Henderson also posted three hits on the day, going 3-for-5 with a stolen base and one run scored. Tayl’r Hollis added two RBIs in a 1-for-5 performance with a double and run scored. Duhon, Jazz Jackson and Ashley Applegate each had a pair of hits on the night with Duhon recording a double and a stolen base and Jackson adding a stolen base
Cody Trahan came on in the sixth inning and allowed only one hit in the final five and a third innings to earn the win. Improving to 7-1 on the season, the sophomore faced the minimum and struck out nine of the 16 batters she faced. Tiffany Garcia started and gave up three runs on six hits with a walk in two and a third. Casey Faile came on in relief in the third and allowed three runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
“We had some players have great nights including Dee Dee and Killian,” said Girouard, “then, of course, Stein coming up with the huge hit at the end. Cody also came in and did a great job”.
Troy pitcher Ashley Williams went the distance in a gutsy performance by the freshman hurler. While throwing 183 pitches, Williams allowed seven runs on 15 hits with six walks and five strikeouts as she fell to 11-7 on the season.
“Give kudos to Troy,” said Girouard. “They came out swinging the bat and they kept fighting and making plays. Their pitcher handled us a couple of times. She kept making pitches before the Tigers pulled it out.”
The Trojans jumped on the board early in the game. Troy scored three runs on three hits with the benefit of a walk and sacrifice fly in the first. LSU came back to take the lead with four runs in the bottom of the third. Henderson and Jackson led off the inning with back-to-back singles. With one out, Hollis doubled to right center to score the first two runs. On a single to center field by Roessner, Hollis came around to score as Roessner moved to second. A double by Duhon scored Roessner to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.
In the top of the fourth, the Trojans came back to tie it up again. Tanya McLean led off the inning with a pinch-hit solo home run. LSU re-took the lead in the bottom of the fifth as Roessner matched McLean with a home run of her own. It was the seventh of the year for the senior, marking the most single-season home runs in her four-year career.
For the fourth time in six innings, the lead changed hands as Troy put up two in the top of the sixth. With two outs, McLean singled up the middle. A walk to Kala Moore put runners on first and second. A single through the right side by Kaitlin Kenney scored pinch runner Katie Ely from second and sent Moore to third. On a double-steal play, Moore stole home to pull ahead, 6-5.
Trailing by one in entering the bottom half of the inning, the Tigers tied it up on an RBI double by Mitchell. Applegate led off with a single and moved to second on a ground out by Henderson. A single by Jackson pushed Applegate to third before scoring on the sixth double of the year for Mitchell.
After each team put up six runs in the first six innings, neither team could get on the board for the next four. In the process, LSU left the bases loaded twice without scoring. Troy had only one base runner in the final five innings, but the runner was immediately eliminated on a double-play as Trahan shut down the Trojan offense to end the game.
The Tigers will take a break from SEC play this weekend as LSU travels to the USF Under Armour Classic. The Tigers will take on Fordham, Oklahoma State, Purdue and South Florida in pool play on Friday and Saturday. LSU will then compete in bracket play on Sunday to conclude the three-day tournament.
Troy 300 102 000 00 – 6 11 1
LSU 004 011 000 01 – 7 15 0
Ashlyn Williams and Felicia Hammer. Tiffany Garcia, Casey Faile (3), Cody Trahan (6) and Erika Sluss, Killian Roessner (6). WP ? Trahan (7-1). LP ? Williams (11-7). S ? None. HR ? Tanya McLean, Killian Roessner. T ? 3:14. A ? 565.