BATON ROUGE — The No. 21 LSU softball team stormed back to a 4-3 comeback victory over No. 5 Texas A&M before falling 1-0 against Sam Houston State during the final day of the Easton Tiger Classic at the new Tiger Park.
“We talked about living on the edge and we have to do a better job of making things happen earlier in games,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “It’s the bad nature of our sport when you have a good win followed by a heartbreaking loss. The game should have been over in seven innings [against Sam Houston State], but we leave the park today a little disappointed.”
The Tigers fought back from a 3-1 hole and posted three runs in the sixth inning against the Aggies. An Ashley Langoni single, Anissa Young walk and Casey Faile single set the table for Ashley Applegate, who delivered a two-run single up-the-middle to tie the score at 3-3.
Kirsten Shortridge followed by slapping an RBI-single on a 1-0 pitch though the middle to put LSU ahead 4-3.
Macie Morrow leadoff the Texas A&M seventh with a single to center field. She moved to third base after a sacrifice bunt and fly ball. The Tigers turned to Brittany Mack out of the bullpen.
After Mack allowed a walk to put runners on the corners, she picked up her first career save getting Kelsey Spittler to ground out to preserve the 4-3 win.
“Brittany pitched her guts outs this weekend,” Girouard said. “That was a tough spot for her to come into. I don’t know how many total pitches she threw this weekend. I have to give her a ton of credit.”
Texas A&M jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning aided by pair of LSU errors before Langoni drew the Tigers back within 2-1 belting her first career home run onto the left field berm.
With runners on the corners and one out in the fifth inning, the Aggies capitalized on a Casey Faile fielding error to make it 3-1.
LSU fell 1-0 to Sam Houston State in eight innings as Megan Gegan snuck a solo home run over the left field fence for the game’s only run.
Mack was the tough-luck loser dropping to 2-1. She allowed only four hits and struck out 12 batters against zero walks.
“The rise ball I threw didn’t go up just enough,” Mack said. “When the count is 0-2, you must be sure that the pitch is nowhere close for them to hit. Mine wasn’t high enough.”
The Tigers had an opportunity to score in the sixth inning as Shortridge reached on a leadoff error, stole second and moved to third base on a Jazz Jackson ground ball.
Juliana Santos tapped a ground ball and Shortridge was tagged out at the plate. Rachel Mitchell and Langoni reached to load the bases before Anissa ripped a line drive that was caught by Bearkats third basemen Sarah Parich to end the frame.
Earlier in the day, Ohio State picked up a pair of 2-0 wins over No. 5 Texas A&M and Sam Houston State to win the tournament championship. Ohio State pitchers Kim Reeder and Lindsay Bodecker combined to allow only three hits and 23 strikeouts.
2009 Easton Tiger Classic All-Tournament Team
P ? Kim Reeder (Ohio State)
P ? Brittany Mack (LSU)
C ? Sam Marder (Ohio State)
INF ? Sarah Parich (Sam Houston State)
INF ? Natalie Villarreal (Texas A&M)
INF ? Ashley Langoni (LSU)
INF ? Juliana Santos (LSU)
OF ? Courtney Pruner (Ohio State)
OF ? Holly Ridley (Texas A&M)
OF ? Kirsten Shortridge (LSU)
At-Large ? Morgan Mikulan (Sam Houston State)
MVP ? Kim Reeder (Ohio State)