BATON ROUGE — The No. 21 LSU softball team lost a 2-0 decision to Ohio State in eight innings Friday evening at the new Tiger Park to open the 2009 Easton Tiger Classic.
The Tigers (4-3) had its 52-game home winning streak in February dating back to the 2004 season come to a close. Kirsten Shortridge went 2-for-3 at the plate extending her hitting streak to five games, but the rest of the LSU offense went 0-for-21.
Kim Reeder struck seven batters in 7.1 innings allowing just the two Shortridge infield hits to move to 2-1, while Lindsay Bodeker recorded the game’s final two outs for her first save. Shortridge dropped to 1-2 allowing a pair of unearned runs.
“There felt like there were no adjustments on our part at the plate until it was too late,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “I’ll have to take a look at the video to get a further explanation but [Kim] Reeder did a good job controlling us tonight. You can’t win games with only two hits plain and simple. We let this one game get away from us. Credit Ohio State because they made something happen, and we did not.”
Cody Trahan turned in her best performance of the season being touched up for only two hits and racking up seven strikeouts against one walk over five innings. At one point, she retired nine consecutive batters with five of the nine outs coming via the strikeout.
“Cody was flawless and what we got was the most that we could get out of her tonight,” Girouard said. “We need her to be healthy for SEC play so we had her on a pitch count, but what she gave us was enough to win.”
The Buckeyes (5-1) scored a pair of runs during the international tiebreaker in the top of the eighth inning. After pinch runner Katie Simonton was placed on second base, Tory Haddard dropped a bunt and reached as third baseman Jessica Mouse’s throw pulled second baseman Courtney Hollier off the bag.
A walk to Whitney Cooper loaded the bases with no outs. Kirsten Shortridge regrouped in the circle for the Tigers and got Rachael Shepherd to strike out swinging. A Brittany Goodchild ground ball allowed Simonton to score for the game’s first run.
An infield bloop single by Leah Ledford pushed the Ohio State lead to 2-0. Shortridge got Sam Marder to strike out to end the frame and strand the bases loaded.
LSU loaded the bases in the bottom half of the frame as Ashley Langoni was hit-by-a-pitch and pinch hitter Casey Faile drew a walk. With two outs, Ashley Applegate grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.
The Tigers continue pool play Saturday against No. 5 Texas A&M and Sam Houston State. First pitch against the Aggies is slated for 2pm. Cox Sports Television and KLSU 91.1 FM will broadcast the game live.
“The competition gets better tomorrow and this young team will have to learn there are only so many opportunities during a game,” Girouard said. “There are times when the game is decided by which team gets the break or which team makes the mistake.”
Earlier in pool play, No. 5 Texas A&M defeated Sam Houston State 8-3. The Aggies improved to 5-1 overall, while the Bearkats dropped to 4-2 overall.
Texas A&M had six different players contribute RBIs. The Aggies never looked back after pulling ahead early with a 5-0 advantage after the game’s three innings.