HOUSTON – No. 20 Oklahoma State used a pair of home runs to hand the No. 18 LSU softball team its first defeat of the 2011 season by a 5-3 margin Friday to wrap up day one of the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic at the Cougar Softball Stadium.
LSU (8-1) carried a 3-0 advantage into the bottom of the fourth inning, but Tamara Brown pulled the Cowgirls to within a run after a Tamara Brown two-run dinger.
Two frames later, Chelsea Garcia connected for a three-run long ball that stayed just right off the left field foul pole to put OSU ahead 5-3. Alysia Hamilton and Julie Ward set the table with back-to-back singles to start the sixth inning.
Kat Espinosa retired the final eight batters she faced to improve to 3-0 on the season, while Rachele Fico dropped to 3-1 with the loss. The five earned runs allowed by Fico were the most since a relief appearance at No. 6 Florida on April 2 of last season.
“We let that one slip away,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “We have to make better pitch selections in what we call and where we place the ball in certain situations. This is a good Oklahoma State team that can make you pay when you make mistakes in the circle. We learned that the hard way today.”
With two outs in the third inning, LSU made the most of an Ashley Langoni two-out single to centerfield. Anissa Young connected for a two-run homer, her third of the season, to vault LSU to a 2-0 lead.
The Tigers used aggressive baserunning from Alex Boulet to add a run in the fourth. She stole a pair of bases to advance to third base after a one-single and crossed the plate to make it 3-0 after Tiffany Shaw was caught stealing following a walk.
“Anissa is really hitting the ball hard,” Girouard said. “We were up 3-0 and had a chance to make it more. We need more people to step up and hit like Anissa is.”
LSU looks to bounce back Saturday against tournament host Houston at 1 p.m. followed by a 5 p.m. tilt versus Nicholls State.Live stats for both games are available on LSUsports.net and fans can follow in-games updates via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.
“It’s a new day tomorrow, we have to learn from this,” Girouard said. “We have to find interchangeable parts to help with the injury situations. When it’s a player’s chance to get into the lineup, they have to make something happen.”