BATON ROUGE — The No. 18 LSU softball fell 2-1 and 7-4 to No. 13 Tennessee Saturday at the new Tiger Park. It’s the first time since the 2006 season against Georgia that the Tigers have lost the first two games of a SEC doubleheader at home.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Tennessee because they played very well today,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “At the same time, this is worst that we’ve played all season.”
LSU (22-9, 8-5 SEC) and Tennessee (29-8, 6-5 SEC) conclude its weekend series Sunday with the program’s inaugural “Swing for the Cure” game benefiting the Baton Rouge Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. and will be broadcasted live on The X 104.5 and 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area. Patrick Wright and Kent Lowe are set to call all of the action and live stats are available on LSUSports.net
As part of the SEC-TV Game of the Week, FSN Southwest in Louisiana and Arkansas in addition to FSN South in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky along with Sun Sports in Florida also will carry the game live.
“Nothing was smooth for us today,” Girouard said. “Everything needs to be much better and much sharper tomorrow,” Girouard said. “We just have a bad day and really didn’t perform to our expectations.”
Game 1 ? Tennessee 2, LSU 1
With the score tied at 0-0 heading into the seventh inning, the Lady Vols struck for a pair of runs with two outs.
Nicole Kajitani reached on an infield and stole second. She came around to score on an RBI-single by Lillian Hammond, who advanced to third base after the throw to the plate got away. Kelly Grieve platted Hammond on a RBI-single through the left side to make it 2-0.
LSU rallied in the home half of the frame behind a leadoff single by Kirsten Shortridge, who alertly advanced to third base on shortstop’s Ashley Andrews throwing error.
The Tigers pulled back to 2-1 as Juliana Santos reached on a dropped fly ball by Grieve in centerfield with two outs. After a passed ball moved Santos to third, an international walk to Rachel Mitchell put runners on the corners. Ashley Langoni popped out to Andrews for the final out.
Cody Trahan dropped to 6-3 allowing only one earned run on six hits. She tallied four strikeouts against three walks, while Cat Hoesfield improved to 20-7 for the Lady Vols.
LSU had a scoring opportunity in the third inning as Morgan Russell drew a leadoff walk and pinch runner Katie Guillory advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt.
A bloop double by Kirsten Shortridge and a Jazz Jackson infield single loaded the bases with one out. Santos hit a fly ball to left field, but Guillory was doubled up at the plate to keep the score at 0-0.
Game 2 ? Tennessee 7, LSU 4
Juliana Santos and Ashley Applegate provided a pair of RBIs, but Tennessee made the most of four Tiger errors to come away with a 7-4 win.
Down 2-0, Santos ignited the Tigers by driving home Kirsten Shortridge on RBI-single, who cranked a one-out double to left centerfield in the third inning.
Applegate capped a three-run frame with a two-out, two-run single to right center field. The two RBIs pushed Applegate’s season total to 10 allowing her to surpass her total from the 2008 season.
Tennessee responded by scoring twice in the fourth inning and adding single runs over the next three innings to grab a 7-3 advantage.
Tiffany Huff picked up a RBI-single in the fourth inning and added a bases loaded walk during the seventh inning. Erinn Webb knocked a RBI-triple in the sixth inning.
Santos platted Shortridge on a fielder’s choice in the seventh inning for the final margin of 7-4.
Cat Hosfield held LSU to two hits and an unearned run over three innings to pick up the save for the Lady Vols.
“Hosfield controlled us very well both games,” Girouard said. “She was highly recruited and her performance showed it.”