HOUSTON – The No. 18 LSU softball team dropped a 5-4 eight-inning affair to Houston Saturday in its opening game of day two at the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic.
LSU (8-2) constructed a 4-0 advantage as Brittany Mack was dominant during the first five innings of the contest being touched up for only one hit and registering seven strikeouts. The Tigers also received spectacular defensive plays from Tammy Wray on a line drive snag at third base along with a Morgan Russell pickoff play from her catcher post in the first and second innings, respectively.
“Brittany pitched lights out to a pro-Houston crowd, but we completely fell apart on the infield during the sixth inning,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “We’re lacking some focus in the late innings right now, and we have to be able to find it. There’s no doubt we’re playing shorthanded, but the players we have are on this team are here for a reason. They need to be able to step up and make plays.”
LSU grabbed a 1-0 edge after Wray delivered a RBI-single to score Ashley Langoni in the first inning. The Tigers have scored a first inning run in seven of 10 games this season.
Heidi Pizer ripped a two-run homer into the left centerfield palm trees in the fourth inning, while Langoni smoked a RBI-double during the fifth inning to vault the Tigers ahead 4-0. All four of LSU’s runs came with two outs and the Tigers have already racked up 30 two-out RBIs this season.
Houston (6-1) rallied for a quartet of runs in the sixth inning aided by a Pizer two-base throwing error to start the frame. Stesha Brazil connected for a RBI-single for the Cougars first run. After an Ashleigh Jones infield single and Haley Outon walk, Jennifer Klinkert poked a two-run single to right centerfield to pull Houston back to 4-3.
With runners on the corners and one out, the Tigers turned to Rachele Fico out of the bullpen. On a 1-0 offering, pinch hitter Reina Gaber lifted a sacrifice fly to knot the tally at 4-4.
The international tiebreaker was placed into effect for extra innings as both teams started with a runner on second base. Klinkert capped her three RBI performance with a single to centerfield for the 5-4 Houston walkoff win.
Donna Bourgeois improved to 3-1 in the circle for the Cougars, while Fico fell to 3-2 for LSU.
LSU returns to action later this evening against Nicholls State. First pitch has been pushed back to approximately 6 p.m. with live stats available on www.LSUsports.net/livestats. Fans also can follow in-games updates via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.