BATON ROUGE — The LSU softball team bolted out to a 5-0 lead after one inning on Wednesday and never looked back as the Tigers defeated Southeastern Louisiana 15-6 in a nine-inning game to close out fall ball at the original Tiger Park.
LSU was paced by sophomore Casey Faile who finished with four hits, including two doubles, and four RBIs. In addition, Faile pitched three innings, giving up no runs on one hit with six strikeouts.
In the first inning LSU strung together five consecutive hits, capped off by Faile’s two-run double to center field.
Freshman Juliana Santos led off the inning with a sharp single to left field, and Rachel Mitchell followed with a base knock to center that advanced Santos to third base. Freshman Ashley Langoni, who led the Tigers with three homeruns in the Collegiate Classic, ripped a single to left that scored Santos to put LSU up 1-0. Freshman Morgan Russell put the Tigers up 2-0 when she singled to center, scoring Mitchell from second. After Courtney Hollier pinch-ran for Russell, Faile delivered the big blow of the inning on a double that plated Langoni and Hollier. Ashley Applegate tacked on the final run of the inning two outs later when she singled in pinch-runner Katie Hamilton to put LSU up 5-0 after one.
LSU made it 6-0 in the second inning when Langoni scored on a wild pitch, and the Tigers pushed across another run in the third when Hollier scored on a Santos groundout.
The Tigers built an 11-0 lead when they scored four in the fourth inning. Faile picked up her third RBI of the night when she doubled in Santos for the first run of the inning. Hamilton followed with a double that scored Faile to make it 9-0. Hamilton scored on an Anissa Young groundout, and Applegate crossed home on a single by Hollier.
LSU tacked on one run in the fifth when Applegate singled home Hamilton.
Southeastern picked up its first run in the top of the eighth, but the Tigers answered with three in the bottom of the frame to take a 15-1 lead. Hollier scored on an error, Mitchell crossed home on a wild pitch and Santos scored on a sacrifice fly from Faile.
The Lady Lions scored four in the top of the ninth to make it 15-6.
In the circle, Cody Trahan fired three perfect innings with five strikeouts to open the game. After Faile pitched the three middle innings, Brittany Mack came in to toss the final three. Mack surrendered five runs on six hits to go along with two strikeouts.
“It was a nine-inning game that we didn’t play all the way through,” LSU head coach Yvette Girouard said. “It was kind of an oddity to play a nine-inning game, but we have to learn to stay locked in until the end. We saw some good things offensively, and we executed a little bit better. It was a good opportunity to see who could perform when the lights came on. Now we have to get ready for the spring schedule because we face tough opponents in Hawaii. We have to continue to get better, and we will.”
LSU finished the fall with a 7-0 record and will open up regular season play February 5 in the Paradise Classic against UAB.