BATON ROUGE – The No. 16 LSU softball rolled to impressive 9-1 and 11-0 victories over Syracuse and South Alabama Friday to conclude day one of the Purple & Gold Challenge at Tiger Park.
With the victories, LSU (15-4) reeled off its ninth and 10th straight victories. It marks the first time since March 2008 that LSU has won double-digit games consecutively.
The Tigers used a balanced attack as seven players recorded multiple RBIs over the two games. Rachel Mitchell picked up a pair of RBIs in both games highlighted by a two-run homer against South Alabama. LSU also was an efficient 9-for-9 in the stolen base department and Kirsten Shortridge racked up four steals to go along with her two multi-hit efforts. Shortridge has now hit safely in nine straight games.
“We had a lot of good things happen for us and have some bats that are really starting to light it up,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “Kirsten Shortridge looked like Kirsten Shortridge is supposed to look. Rachel Mitchell is starting to swing the bat well. We got Juliana Santos back for a game. You just had to ease her back into play but she looked great. That’s a huge bat for us back. Everybody played well tonight. We stole bases and hit the ball hard.”
Brittany Mack and Rachele Fico earned the wins in the circle for LSU as the duo surrendered only six hits in 11.0 innings of work.
“I think this team has an amazing balance,” Mitchell said. “The pitching will step up when the hitting is struggling and they’ve been completely amazing this year. They’re always on top of their game and they really help us stay in games.”
LSU dented the scoreboard in the final four innings en route to a 9-1 triumph over Syracuse (4-8) highlighted by a pair of three-run frames in the fifth and sixth inning, respectively.
The Tigers used clutch hitting to build a 3-0 advantage as Mitchell and Shortridge provided two-out, RBI singles during the third and fourth innings.
Syracuse scored its lone run in the fifth inning on a Lisaira Daniels RBI-single, but Langoni fired a rocket to the plate to gun down the trail runner to keep the score at 3-1.
LSU played long ball in the home half of the frame to put the game out of reach. After a Mitchell leadoff single, Langoni turned her solid defense into a majestic blast to the top of the berm on a 3-2 offering.
Juliana Santos followed two batters later with a solo shot, her first of the season, to straight-away centerfield to make it 6-0.
That would be all the run support that Mack would need. She retired nine of the first 12 batters she faced and picked up seven strikeouts to improve to 4-2.
Shortridge and Ashley Applegate ignited the sixth inning with consecutive singles and stolen bases to put runners on second and third base. Mitchell tacked on a sacrifice fly, while Anissa Young ripped a RBI-single through the left side to push the LSU edge to 8-1. Pinch runner Lindsay Price stole second base, moved to third on a throwing error and scored on the wild pitch for the final margin of 9-1.
“We worked very hard on only swinging at strikes during practice this week,” Girouard said. “We challenged them to have more pride and it showed tonight. We have a great group of players. Like I said at the beginning of the year, it’s fun to come out to the park everyday because they want to get better every day.”
LSU jumped all over South Alabama (8-7) early and batted around the lineup in each of the first two innings. The Tigers made the most of two hits, four walks and five hit batters to go ahead 7-0. Allison Falcon and Lauren Houston tallied two RBIs apiece.
Mitchell and Morgan Russell teamed for some offensive fireworks in the third inning. After Applegate was hit-by-a pitch, Mitchell launched a two-run homer. Young and Falcon set the table for Russell, who ripped a two-run double into the right centerfield gap as LSU tied a season-high with 11 runs.
Fico limited the Jaguars to only two hits and sat down her final 10 batters to win her fifth consecutive decision.
“She has been kind of a hard luck [loser] where we haven’t touched the plate much for her but we certainly did tonight,” Girouard said. “Tomorrow is another day and we’ll hopefully see that same kind of focus from our Tigers.”
LSU completes pool play Saturday against Campbell at 1:30 p.m. with bracket play to follow beginning at 4 p.m.
Fans can follow every game of the Purple & Gold Challenge via live stats on LSUsports.net in addition to live in-games updates on www.twitter.com/lsu_softball.
Purple & Gold Challenge Quotes
March 5, 2010 Syracuse & South Alabama Games
HEAD COACH YVETTE GIROUARD
Opening Statement …
“We had a lot of good things happen for us. We have some bats that are really starting to light it up. Kirsten Shortridge looked like Kirsten Shortridge is supposed to look. Rachel Mitchell is starting to swing the bat well. We got Juliana Santos back for a game. You just had to ease her back into play but she looked great. That is a huge bat for us back. Everybody played well tonight. We stole bases and we hit the ball hard. We got the benefit of a wild pitcher, but we took advantage of it.”
On the team swinging at only strikes …
“We worked very hard on it this week. We challenged them to have more pride and it showed tonight. We have a great group of players. Like I said at the beginning of the year, it’s fun to come out to the park everyday because they want to get better every day.”
On Rachele Fico finally getting some run support …
“She has been kind of a hard luck [loser] where we haven’t touched the plate much for her but we certainly did tonight. Tomorrow is another day and we’ll hopefully see that same kind of focus from our Tigers.”
On what she wants to see tomorrow …
“I want to see good pitching. I want to see us hit our spots and I want us to just get one inning better than we are right now. If we do that, we will be that much closer to where we want to get.”
On how important it is to keep the winning streak going …
“It’s always really important, especially when we are playing teams like this. They have good pitching and good defense. It’s really important for us to get all of our reps in because it’s really going to help us prepare for SEC play.”
On how it feels to hit her first home run of the season …
“It was so exciting. We’re having a home run race and Ashley [Langoni] already has six so if I don’t step up my game I am never going to get into the race. It felt really good and I’m glad to see the ball fly over the fence.”
On how having a great pitching staff makes it easier on the team offensively …
“I think this team has an amazing balance. The pitching will step up when the hitting is struggling and they have just been completely amazing this year. They’re always on top of their game and they really help us stay in games.”
On what the team still needs to work on …
“I think we still need to work on seeing the balls we want to hit. We’re still being really aggressive, but we also need to calm it down a notch or two to make sure we’re swinging at strikes only. It’s really important to keep momentum. The whole team feels great. We’re happy and clicking really well. Tomorrow is another day where we can come out, have fun and play.”