BATON ROUGE – Kirsten Shortridge and Ashley Applegate racked up a 9-for-14 effort with three runs scored and three RBIs as the No. 14 LSU softball team picked up 7-0 and 4-3 victories Saturday over Auburn to open Alumnae Weekend Saturday at Tiger Park in front of a season-best 1,442 fans.
With the wins, LSU (25-4, 7-0 SEC) extended its winning streak to a program record 20 games. The previous mark was 19 held by the 2000 team.
In between games, LSU honored 18 members of its alumnae on the field, including All-Americans Leslie Klein, Kristin Schmidt and Emily Turner in addition to academic All-America Dee Dee Henderson. Members of LSU’s inaugural program from 1979-82 also were recognized along with former head coach Carol Smith.
Cody Trahan tossed an opening game three-hit shutout to move to 8-0 on the season. She fanned six batters against two walks to drop her season ERA to 0.23.
“We keep playing some great softball with strong hitting and pitching,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “They’re a fun team to coach. Cody continues to be phenomenal and I’m so happy it’s coming together for her during her senior season. She’s been through a lot during her career and really is throwing well right now.”
After a two-run second inning, LSU busted the game open with a five-run sixth as the Tigers sent 10 batters to the plate.
Allison Falcon along with Shortridge and Applegate struck for a trio of singles. Applegate’s single through the right side scored pinch runner Lindsay Price. Shortridge came around to score on a Mitchell sacrifice fly to expand the LSU advantage to 4-0.
Anissa Young, Juliana Santos and Courtney Holler each coaxed two-out walks to keep the frame alive. Hollier fouled off four pitches and was reward with a RBI for her efforts. Morgan Russell capped the frame with a two-run double down the left field line on a 0-1 offering for the final margin of 7-0.
Auburn’s Jenee Loree threw 147 pitches in her 5.1 innings of work and dropped to 2-2.
“Our team has some great hitters,” Applegate said. “We’re really seeing the ball well right now. We know that we have to continue to put everything together and rely on our depth to be successful.”
LSU manufactured runs in the first and second innings to grab a 2-0 edge to open the second game. Applegate cranked a one-out double into the right centerfield gap and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Mitchell sacrifice fly.
Falcon used the same script in the second inning and belted a one-out double down the left field line. Jessica Mouse dropped a textbook bunt and legged out a single. As the ball trickled away from Auburn second baseman Kelley Smiley, Falcon raced towards the plate to make it 2-0.
LSU added a pair of runs in the fourth inning as Falcon and Mouse set the table for the top of the order. Shortridge and Applegate provided back-to-back RBIs to push the LSU lead to 4-0 and chase Auburn starter Anna Thompson from the game.
Auburn fired off a three-run rally in the seventh inning with two outs. Lindsey Harrelson knocked a RBI-single to plate Krista Clyde, who reached on a leadoff single. Girouard turned to Rachele Fico out of the bullpen to relieve Brittany Mack.
The Auburn inning was kept alive on a Mitchell dropped foul ball. Three pitches later, Harrison ripped a two-run double to pull Auburn back to 4-3. Fico regrouped and got Elizabeth Eisterhold to ground out to Young at first base to notch her third save of the season.
“You have to live in the present and let the negatives go,” Girouard said. “You have to continue to live at-bat to at-bat even sometimes when things aren’t going your way. There are times when this game is a game of failure, but I was proud of how we hung in there to close out the win.”
“We couldn’t let anything phase us in that last inning,” Fico said. “We had to move on and focus on the next batter. Anissa came up with a huge play at the end. There are times when things happen, but we have to continue to pick each other up.”
Mack moved to 6-2 on the season and was touched up for one earned run on six hits, while Thompson fell to 7-5.
LSU and Auburn meet in the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m. with live stats available on LSUsports.com in addition to live in-game updates on www.twitter.com/lsu_softball.