CLEARWATER Fla. — Freshman Casey Faile came through with a pinch hit double to break open a scoreless game in the fifth as the 10th-ranked LSU softball team defeated Purdue, 4-0, in the second day of action in the Under Armour Showcase at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 23-4 on the season and 3-0 in tournament play. The loss dropped the Boilermakers to 17-8 on the year. LSU will close out the tournament on Sunday against South Florida at 10:30 a.m. CDT.
Cody Trahan earned the win to improve to 9-1 on the season. She started and allowed only two hits with four walks and four strikeouts in five innings. Dani Hofer came on in the sixth to earn her first save of the season. She gave up three hits with a walk and four strikeouts in the final two innings.
”It was a workman?like performance,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “Cody gave us a good five innings before Dani came in and shut it down.”
With the game scoreless in the bottom of the fifth inning, Erika Sluss led off with a single through the right side. She moved to second on an infield ground out by Quinlan Duhon. Faile then came through with a double to right center, scoring Sluss from second to put the Tigers up for good.
“We got opportunistic hitting,” said Girouard.
LSU broke the game open with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jazz Jackson singled through the left side to lead off the inning. An infield single with one out by Rachel Mitchell pushed Jackson to second. Tayl’r Hollis then singled through the right side to score Jackson and send Mitchell to third. Sluss was hit by a pitch to load the bases before back-to-back walks scored the final two runs of the game as the Tigers pushed the score to 4-0.
Purdue threatened several times in the contest, but the LSU pitching staff came up with the big outs when needed. The Boilermakers stranded eight on base in the game, including five in scoring position.
One of the biggest defensive plays of the contest came in the top of the sixth with the Tigers only leading 1-0. After Candace Curtis led off with a double, Hofer, Roessner, Sluss and Mouse combined for a strike them out, throw them out double play.
On the strikeout swinging by Kelsey Haupert, the ball was in the dirt and Roessner had to throw down for the out at first. As Roessner threw, Curtis broke for third and Sluss threw to Mouse to get the caught stealing at third. With two outs and no runner on, Purdue had back-to-back batters reach before ending the inning.
“I thought we had some outstanding defensive plays,” said Girouard. “In particular, Killian on a strike three call made a great defensive play to throw the runner out at first before Sluss made a great throw to get the runner at third.”
The Tigers will return to conference play next week. LSU will host Auburn in a three-game series at Tiger Park. Due to Easter Sunday, the series will be played on Friday and Saturday. The Tigers will square off on Friday with a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m. before concluding the series with a single game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
All three games of the series will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network in Baton Rouge on The X ? 104.5/104.9 FM and in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. In addition, the final game of the series will be televised on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37.
Purdue 000 000 0 – 0 5 1
LSU 000 013 x – 4 6 0
Suzie Rzegocki, Dana Alcocer (6) and Jenna Alexander. Cody Trahan, Dani Hofer (6) and Killian Roessner. WP ? Trahan (9-1). LP ? Rzegocki (6-3). S ? Hofer (1). T ? 1:57. A ? 153.