FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – After a three hour and thirty minute rain delay and with the No. 17 LSU softball team down to its final out, Allison Falcon ripped a double followed by a Kirsten Shortridge homer to lift the Tigers to a 2-1 triumph over Kentucky during the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals Thursday at Bogle Park on the University of Arkansas campus.
It marked LSU’s (43-13) third win of the season via a walkoff long ball. Ashley Langoni and Courtney Hollier provided the late-inning blasts in extra innings against Houston and Campbell, respectively.
Falcon ignited the rally and ripped a 0-1 offering down the right field line for a double before Shortridge cranked a line-drive laser over the right centerfield wall for the win. LSU snapped a 17-game streak when entering the seventh inning trailing dating back to last season’s 2-1 comeback win over Nicholls.
“We played with a lot of heart coming off a rough series with Tennessee,” Shortridge said. “I just wanted to do anything I could to help the team. We know we have what it takes to get the job done. All we can do is control the things that we can.”
The Tigers advance to the face No. 5 Florida, a 9-1 winner over Auburn, in Friday’s semifinals. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. on ESPN U with Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza set to anchor the coverage.
“Allison gave us a huge momentum lift by turning a double play in the top of the seventh. Our defense has been outstanding all season and Kirsten saved the best for last,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “She wanted to hit the ball as hard as she could. I’ve called Kirsten lighting in a bottle earlier this season. She’s a phenomenal player that doesn’t come around often. Kudos to Kentucky, they played a great game. I’m proud of how the Tigers found a way to win.”
Molly Johnson provided a solo home run to open the fourth inning to give the Wildcats a 1-0 edge. Outside of that pitch, Cody Trahan was magnificent in the circle for the Tigers. She retired the first nine batters she faced and sat down the next 10 Wildcats after the Johnson dinger. The Little Cypress, Texas native notched seven strikeouts against zero walks over 6.1 innings of work.
“Cody threw incredible and made one mistake to one of their best players,” Girouard said. “She kept us in the game and did an excellent job of bouncing back from her performance at Tennessee.”
The LSU offense stranded six runners through the first six innings of play without the services of right fielder and No. 3 hitter Rachel Mitchell.
The Wildcats received five shutout frames from Chanda Bell before giving way to Rachel Riley after LSU put the first two batters on-base in the sixth inning. Riley was able to get the next three Tigers in-order to secure the 1-0 edge.
Out of the rain delay, Kentucky had runners on first and second base with one out during the seventh inning. The Tigers turned to Rachele Fico, who needed just five pitches to induce a double play ball as Falcon connected with Courtney Hollier and Anissa Young to get out of the jam.
All of LSU’s tournament games will be broadcasted live on ESPN 104.5 and The X 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area with Patrick Wright and Matt Dunaway set to call all of the action. Live stats are available in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net along with in-game updates via http://twitter.com/lsu_softball.
“Whoever we get is going to be a tough battle,” Girouard said. “Both Florida and Auburn have been playing well. The Gators are a juggernaut playing with a chip on their shoulder, while Auburn is a team getting hot at the right time.”