BATON ROUGE — Ashley Langoni and Casey Faile cranked two-run home runs in the fifth and seventh innings to fuel the No. 20 LSU softball team to a 4-1 victory over Auburn Sunday at Jane B. Moore Field in the regular season finale for both teams.
LSU (32-15-1, 15-10-1 SEC) faces host Tennessee Thursday in the opening round of the SEC Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
“It wasn’t pretty at times, but this team continues to keep fighting,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “We needed a little surge and something positive to get us going. Ashley had been struggling and out of the lineup. Big hitters have to keep swinging and that home run gave life to our dugout. It’s good for this young team to keep its momentum going heading into the SEC Tournament.”
Auburn (29-26, 9-19 SEC) grabbed a 1-0 edge in the first inning on a two-out bloop single by Kyndall White to score Myesha Finney, who was hit-by-a-pitch.
AU’s Anna Thompson started strong and retired 13 of the 14 batters she faced until Faile connected on a single to right field in the fifth inning. Langoni followed by breaking out of a 0-for-21 slump and launched a 1-1 offering over the left field wall to push LSU ahead, 2-1.
“It feels good [to break out of the slump],” Langoni said. “She was throwing me inside and I took the low outside pitch out of the park. It gave our dugout energy and it was big for Cody [Trahan] because she threw a heck a game.”
LSU tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning as Faile belted a long ball off the left field foul pole for the final margin of 4-1.
Cody Trahan settled down after the run in the first inning and sat down 16 of the final 18 batters she faced to improve to 11-5. She had several key defensive plays behind her, including a pair of amazing catches from Kirsten Shortridge in centerfield to go along with left fielder Rachel Mitchell gunning down White, who tried to stretch a single into a double in the sixth inning.
“Different pitches were working for me in different innings,” Trahan said. “The defense was amazing behind me today, and the outfield saved me a couple of times. This series was huge for us to keep the momentum going into the SEC Tournament.”
LSU’s opening round game from the SEC Tournament will be broadcasted live on The X 104.5/104.9 FM. Patrick Wright and Kent Lowe will call the action and live stats also will be available on LSUSports.net
“There’s no doubt that playing Tennessee is going to be a big challenge on their home field,” Girouard said. “Hopefully, the Lady Vols will see a different LSU team than they did earlier this season.”