BATON ROUGE — The No. 19 LSU softball team split its doubleheader to open SEC action winning game one 3-2 before falling 6-5 in eight innings against Kentucky Saturday at the new Tiger Park in-front of 1,083 fans.
The Tigers (13-5, 1-1 SEC) had its seven-game winning streak snapped and fell to the Wildcats (10-6, 1-1 SEC) for only the second time in 30 all-time meetings.
In between games, LSU honored its softball alumni as part of alumni weekend. Approximately 30 players were on-hand, including All-Americans Stephanie Hastings, Kristin Schmidt, Leslie Klein and Emily Turner.
“We had our opportunities to complete the sweep,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “A couple of defensive lapses and not capitalizing on offensive chances cost us. Give Kentucky credit because they came back and beat us.”
First pitch for the series finale has been moved up to noon to accommodate Kentucky’s travel plans. Live stats will be available on LSUSports.net
“We’ll have to be more mature at the plate, on the mound and in the field,” Girouard said. “Basically, we’ll have to battle back tomorrow to win the series.”
Below is a game-by-game recap.
Game 1 ? LSU 3, Kentucky 2
LSU stormed back from a 1-0 deficit with a pair of home runs in the fourth inning.
Juliana Santos drew a leadoff walk before Rachel Mitchell cranked a 2-0 pitch down the right field line to give the Tigers a 2-1. Two batters later, Ashley Langoni belted a longball over the left field berm to extend the lead to 3-1.
The Wildcats took advantage of a trio of walks in the fifth inning to draw back to 3-2 before reliever Brittany Mack got out of a bases loaded jam forcing Natalie Smith to ground out.
Cody Trahan reentered the game and retired the last six batters in order to secure the 3-2 victory. The Texas native won her fourth consecutive start allowing three hits and an unearned run.
Game 2 ? Kentucky 6, LSU 5 (8 Innings)
The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead stringing together four hits in the third inning. Kirsten Shortridge opened the frame with a triple to left field and came around to score on an Ashley Applegate RBI-single.
Santos knocked a single through the left side to set the table for Langoni to connect for a three-run homer over the left field wall that went off the glove of UK’s Annie Rowlands.
LSU pushed the advantage to 5-0 in the fourth inning on a Jazz Jackson sacrifice fly that scored Lauren Capello, who reached on a leadoff walk.
Kentucky chipped away at the LSU lead by platting runs in the fifth and sixth innings to draw back to 5-2.
The Wildcats loaded the bases in the seventh inning on a single, walk and fielder’s choice with no outs before Natalie Smith delivered a three-run double to even the score at 5-5. UK added an unearned run in the eighth inning aided by a Casey Faile throwing error to take a 6-5 lead.
LSU rallied during the home half of the frame with two outs. Applegate tallied her fourth hit of the game on an infield single, while Mitchell and Santos drew back-to-back walks to fill the bases with Tigers.
On a 2-2 pitch, Morgan Russell grounded out to UK third basemen Brittany Cervantes to end the game.