BATON ROUGE — In front of the largest crowd of the season, Quinlan Duhon‘s three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the sixth inning gave the 10th-ranked LSU softball team the series sweep of Auburn, 10-0, on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Park.
With the sweep, the purple and gold Fighting Tigers improved to 27-4 on the year and a perfect 6-0 in Southeastern Conference play. LSU is now riding a 15-game winning streak and has won 18 of its last 19. AU dropped to 27-7 overall and 7-4 in league play and was swept for the first time this season.
“The enthusiasm of the team was generated by the crowd support and how much they were a part of the game,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard, “and also from the beautiful weather.”
“It was really important to start this home stand off correctly,” Girouard continued. “The road is going to be very unkind to us this season. This is our off year like football has where you have the good schedule at home one year and the tough schedule on the road the next. We have the rough schedule on the road this year. It was very important that we shoot out of the gate as fast as we could.”
Junior Dani Hofer picked up her third win of the weekend as she threw a complete-game shutout to improve to 15-2 on the year. She scattered only three hits with a walk, while striking out four and not allowing a single Auburn player to advance to third base. Hofer picked up the complete-game win in game one of the series before earning the second game in relief.
“Dani had a fabulous weekend,” said Girouard. “She picked up three wins. She came in and really saved the game on Friday night and got the win. She’s been in a groove the last couple of weeks and that’s what we need from her.”
A trio of Fighting Tigers picked up two hits in the contest as Dee Dee Henderson and Jazz Jackson went 2-for-4 with four runs scored and an RBI between them. Killian Roessner was 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and two RBIs. Duhon went 1-for-4 with her third home run of the season and three RBIs.
“What can you say about Killian,” said Girouard. “She’s been clutch for us for about the last month. What concerned me was that she was kind of a one woman show for a while, but we seemed to be clicked in offensively this weekend.”
With LSU leading 7-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, Rachel Mitchell reached and advanced to second on an error by the second baseman. A walk to Roessner put runners on first and second. Duhon then drove a full count pitch off the scoreboard in left center field to end the game.
The Fighting Tigers wasted no time in getting on the board early in the game. In the bottom of the first, LSU used three singles and a wild pitch to plate two runs and take the 2-0 advantage. In the bottom of the second, the Fighting Tigers added two more as Henderson and Mitchell each picked up RBIs.
LSU built its lead to seven with three more runs in the fourth, aided by a pair of Auburn errors. Henderson reached on an error to start the inning. She then moved to second on a fielder’s choice by Jackson that was unable to catch the speedy Henderson at second. A throwing error by the pitcher put Mitchell on third and scored Henderson and Jackson. Roessner then came through with an RBI single, her second of the day.
Lauren Schmalz started and took the loss for AU, falling to 4-1 on the season. She allowed four runs on seven hits with a strikeout in an inning and a third. Brittany Day came on in the second and allowed three unearned runs on a hit with three walks and a strikeout over an inning and two-thirds. Angel Bunner closed out the game by allowing three runs, two earned, on a hit and a walk.
The Fighting Tigers remain at home this week as LSU hosts Mississippi State in a doubleheader on Wednesday. The games are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at Tiger Park. The Tigers will then travel to Gainesville, Fla., for a crucial weekend series with top 10-ranked Florida. The three-game series will begin with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon CDT and conclude with a single game on Sunday at noon CDT.
Auburn 000 000 – 0 3 3
LSU 220 303 – 10 9 0
Lauren Schmalz, Brittany Day (2), Angel Bunner (4) and Tatiana Fernandez. Dani Hofer and Killian Roessner. WP ? Hofer (15-2). LP ? Schmalz (4-1). S ? None. HR ? Quinlan Duhon. T ? 1:56. A ? 1,146.