GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The eighth-ranked LSU softball team saw its 17-game winning streak come to an end with back-to-back losses to No. 3 Florida, 6-1 and 2-0, on Saturday afternoon at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
The losses dropped the Tigers to 29-6 on the season and 8-2 in Southeastern Conference play. The Gators improved to 39-2 overall and 11-1 in league action. The wins also snapped LSU’s 11-game winning streak over Florida, dating back to 2004, and marked the first losses by any current Tiger player to the Gators.
LSU had trouble in the field as the sun and errors wreaked havoc in both games. A pair of balls lost in the sun led to two Florida doubles and three errors led to five unearned runs. The pair will now close out the series with a single game on Sunday at noon CDT.
“We kind of looked like the ?Bad News Bears’ at times,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “Florida is a very good team and we have a lot of respect for them but we didn’t pitch as well as we have been and we got no timely hitting, which they did. Obviously, they played far cleaner than we did and consequently they got two wins.”
Dani Hofer started and took the loss in game one to fall to 16-3 on the year. She allowed six runs, three earned, on nine hits with five walks and five strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings. Tiffany Garcia came on in the sixth and retired the one batter she faced. Cody Trahan was the tough luck loser in game two, falling to 10-2 on the year. She allowed only two unearned runs on five hits without a walk and four strikeouts in the complete-game effort.
LSU got on the board with a run in the top of the first inning of game one. With one out, Jazz Jackson reached on a walk. On a steal of second, the ball was misplayed by the shortstop covering second and rolled into right field, allowing Jackson to move to third. A two-out single down the left field line by Killian Roessner scored Jackson to put the Tigers ahead, 1-0.
The Gators took the lead for good in the bottom of the third as the sun wreaked havoc in the outfield. Kim Waleszonia led off with a double to right center. Back-to-back doubles by Aja Paculba and Ali Gardner were on balls lost in the sun in left field, leading to two runs for Florida.
“We practice the ball in the sun drill, but today they had a lot of trouble picking it up,” said Girouard.
With two outs in the top of the sixth, LSU had its best opportunity of the game, but could not covert. With two outs, Tayl’r Hollis singled to left field. Erika Sluss was then hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. An infield single by Ashley Applegate loaded the bases, but Shannon Stein struck out swinging to end the inning.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Gators broke the game open using several miscues by the Tigers. Corrie Brooks led off with a double just inside the left field line. On a sacrifice bunt attempt by Waleszonia, the throw from third base rolled into right field, allowing Brooks to come around and score before Waleszonia was thrown out attempting to advance to third.
With two outs, Gardner singled to left field before a hit by Francesca Enea to left field was misjudged by Quinlan Duhon and tipped off her glove for a double as Gardner scored on the play. A ball hit to center field by Mary Ratliff was in and out of the glove of Jazz Jackson, scoring Enea from second and moving Ratliff to second. A double that dropped in just in front of Rachel Mitchell in right field by Tiffany DeFelice scored Ratliff to put the Gators ahead by the final of 6-1.
Stacey Nelson earned the complete-game win to improve to 24-2 on the season. She allowed one unearned run on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts.
Florida took advantage of another LSU miscue to take the early lead in the second game. Ratliff reached on an uncharacteristic fielding error by Roessner, who dropped a pop up in fair territory. Ratliff then moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt and stolen third. A sacrifice fly to right field by Kristina Hilberth scored Ratliff for the first run of the game.
Megan Bush then hit a ball off the fence in left center field that bounced toward right field away from Jackson, who had run in to the fence trying to make the play. The bad luck of the roll of the ball, allowed Bush to come all the way around and slide into home just under the tag of Roessner for the 2-0 Gator lead.
LSU had its best chance of the game in the top of the fifth. Hollis led off with a single up the middle. She moved to second on a single to right center by Erika Sluss. On a sacrifice bunt attempt by Jessica Mouse, Hollis was thrown out going to third for the first out. An infield single deep in the hole at shortstop by Shannon Stein loaded the bases, but back-to-back fielder’s choices got the runners at the plate to end the inning.
The Tigers had their last chance in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Stein singled up the middle. Henderson was hit by a pitch to put the tying run on first and the go-ahead run at the plate. Unfortunately, a hard shot by Applegate was deflected by the first baseman before she picked it up and touched first for the last out just ahead of Applegate to end the game.
Stephanie Brombacker earned the win for Florida in the circle to improve to 13-0 on the year. She scattered five hits with three strikeouts and did not give up a walk, but did hit three batters.
Next week, the Tigers will host a mid-week game against McNeese State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. LSU will then return to the road for a three-game conference series at No. 2-ranked Alabama. The series beings with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and concludes with a single game on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
LSU 100 000 0 – 1 3 2
Florida 002 004 x – 6 9 2
Dani Hofer, Tiffany Garcia (6) and Killian Roessner. Stacey Nelson and Kristina Hilberth. WP ? Nelson (24-2). LP ? Hofer (16-3). S ? None. T ? 2:08.
LSU 000 000 0 – 0 5 1
Florida 020 000 x – 2 5 0
Cody Trahan and Killian Roessner. Stephanie Brombacher and Kristina Hilberth. WP ? Brombacher (13-0). LP ? Trahan (10-2). S ? None. HR ? Megan Bush. T ? 1:33. A ? 1845.