HOUSTON, Texas – The No. 18 LSU softball team was handed a 1-0 loss by Houston in extra innings for the second straight time Sunday to conclude the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic at the Cougar Softball Stadium.
Rachele Fico carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning for the Tigers before pinch hitter Reina Gaber punched a RBI-single down the left field line to score Ashleigh Jones, who started the frame on second base due to the international tiebreaker rule.
Fico fired nine strikeouts to go over the 200-mark for her career, but dropped to 3-3 with the tough-luck loss. UH’s Amanda Crabtree surrendered three hits but tallied 11 Ks to improve to 4-0 on the season.
LSU placed runners on the corners in the top of the eighth, but Juliana Santos popped into a double play on a hit-and-run attempt.
“Rachele was on target with her pitches, and I came back with her today because I knew she could bounce back,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “The bottom line is we didn’t execute when we had chances. We had a couple of players make hitting adjustments but not enough. In a game when two pitchers are on like that, it’s going to be the first team that blinks.”
LSU had opportunities to dent the scoreboard in the fourth and seventh innings, respectively.
Santos along with Ashley Langoni connected back-to-back singles to open the fourth and moved into scoring position after an Anissa Young sacrifice bunt. However, Tammy Wray fouled out coupled with a Morgan Russell strike out to end the threat.
The Tigers best opportunity came during the seventh. After Wray drew a leadoff walk, pinch runner Alex Boulet scampered all the way to third base after an errant Houston pickoff attempt. With two outs, Jacee Blades bid for an infield single came up a step short on a bang-bang play.
“We’re playing right now without four starters [Ashley Applegate, Allison Falcon, Simone Heyward and Jessica Mouse],” Girouard said. “I’m proud of the kids for battling and trying their hardest. There’s no question we’re a banged up team right now. If and when we get these players back, I think we’ll be much stronger.”
LSU returns home to take on McNeese State Wednesday at Tiger Park. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. and live stats are available on LSUsports.net. Fans also can follow in-games updates via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and www.Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.