BATON ROUGE — The No. 18 LSU softball team dropped a pair of hard-fought 3-0 and 1-0 decisions against No. 1 Florida Saturday in-front of 1,679 fans at the new Tiger Park. It marked the third-highest crowd in program history.
The Gators (45-3, 22-1 SEC) rode the right-arms of Stacey Nelson and Stephanie Brombacher to clinch the SEC regular season title as the Tigers (27-12-1, 10-8-1 SEC) were shut out for the first time since the 2006 season in a SEC doubleheader.
“We’re on the verge of being really good this year,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “We had our chances with the right people at the plate, but we just couldn’t get it done today. Give Florida credit because they were opportunistic and had awesome pitching.”
LSU and Florida conclude its weekend series Sunday at 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted live on The X 104.5 and 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area. Patrick Wright is set to call all of the action and live stats also are available on LSUSports.net.
“I thought we played well, and today would have been totally different if we would have taken advantage of some of the primetime situations we had,” third baseman Jessica Mouse said. “We just need to make a couple of small adjustments at the plate for tomorrow.”
Fans can receive free admission as part of “Bark in the Park” by providing a pet supply donation at the gate that will benefit the Capital Area Animal Welfare Society (CAAWS). Donation suggestions include toys, collars, leashes and bleach. There will be restricted areas on the concourse and left field berm where fans can enjoy the action with their canine friends.
Game 1 ? Florida 3, LSU 0
Florida jumped out to a 2-0 advantage stringing together a two-out Ali Gardiner single followed by a Francesca Enea two-run homer that snuck over the left field fence. The Gators tacked on a sacrifice fly by Michelle Moultrie in the fifth inning to make it 3-0.
LSU attempted to rally in the seventh inning as Ashley Applegate and Casey Faile knocked a pair of singles sending the tying run to the plate with two outs. Stacey Nelson regrouped and got Jessica Mouse to foul out to keep the score, 3-0.
Nelson tallied six strikeouts against one walk to improve to 26-3, while Cody Trahan was tagged with the loss dropping to 7-4 for LSU.
Game 2 ? Florida 1, LSU 0
LSU’s Brittany Mack pitched her way out of trouble by getting the Gators to leave the bases loaded in the first inning. With a runner at third and one out in the second inning, the Tigers also received a fantastic defensive play from shortstop Juliana Santos. She drove to her left, threw from her knees and Morgan Russell applied the tag at the plate on pinch runner Danyell Hines.
Florida was able to manufacture a run in the fourth inning. Kelsey Bruder knocked a leadoff single and moved to second base on a Megan Bush sacrifice bunt with one out. On the first pitch, Kristina Hilberth platted Bruder with a single that squirted past the outstretched glove of Santos.
LSU put the tying run in scoring position with two outs after an Ashley Langoni walk and a Jessica Mouse single to left field during the fifth inning. Kirsten Shortridge hit a high chopper, but UF pitcher Stephanie Brombacher fielded the ball after fully extending to thwart the LSU rally.
Brombacher limited the Tigers to a pair of hits to move to at 19-0, while Nelson notched her third save of the season. Mack was the tough-luck loser and fell to 11-3 after scattering one run on five hits.