BATON ROUGE – Five different players logged RBIs during a seven-run third inning as the No. 20 LSU softball team emerged with a 7-1 victory over McNeese State Wednesday at Tiger Park.
LSU (10-3) also used strong relief outings from Brittany Mack and Rachele Fico in the circle. The duo limited the Cowgirls (2-9) to only two hits over four innings of work. Mack also racked up a quartet of strikeouts to improve to 3-0 on the season.
“I thought Brittany Mack threw very well tonight,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “We didn’t do a lot tonight offensively. It was one of those games where luck comes into play. If you have coached long enough, you will see innings like that. We will see McNeese State again, and I expect a better team the next time we play in Lake Charles.”
“I wanted to keep it simple and didn’t want to throw too many pitches out there,” Mack said. “I stuck with the off-speed curveball, the change-up and the drop ball. I just stuck with those pitches, and I’m glad I was able to hit my spots tonight.”
LSU sent 12 batters to the plate during the third inning as the Tigers unloaded for seven runs. A McNeese State fielding error coupled with three straight walks, the last drawn by Tiffany Shaw, evened the tally at 1-1.
Two batters later, Ashley Langoni lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to hand the Tigers a 2-1 edge. Anissa Young was hit-by-a-pitch and Tammy Wray coaxed LSU’s fourth walk of the frame to make it 3-1.
A two-run single to centerfield off the bat of Morgan Russell pushed the LSU advantage to 5-1. A Cowgirl throwing error on a pickoff attempt followed by a Jacee Blades RBI single through the left side capped the seven-run inning.
“I wanted to do anything I could do to help the team tonight,” Russell said. “When I stepped in the box, I thought to myself just to look for a good pitch. It was nice to get seven runs, and we will take runs anyway we can.”
McNeese State dented the scoreboard in the visiting half of the third inning after three consecutive two-out singles, the final one by Katie Roux, to grab a 1-0 lead.
Meghan Patterson, reigning two-time LSWA Pitcher of the Week, recorded five strikeouts against two walks over three innings as LSU’s starting pitcher.
The Tigers return to the road and head to the west coast for the Cathedral City Classic where it will face No. 3 Arizona, No. 14 California, Fordham and Cal Poly at the Big League Dreams Complex.
Live stats for all four games from Palm Springs, Calif. will be available on LSUsports.net and fans can follow in-game updates via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.
LSU vs. McNeese State
Postgame Quotes
February 23, 2011
Head Coach Yvette Girouard
On tonight’s game …
“I thought Brittany Mack threw very well tonight. Meghan Patterson was a little off kilter, and we didn’t do a lot tonight offensively. It was one of those games where luck comes into play. We didn’t see a whole lot of offense from the Tigers tonight.”
On the bizarre 3rd inning…
“If you have coached long enough, you will see innings like that. We will see McNeese State again, and I expect a better team the next time we play in Lake Charles.”
On the team…
“We will take the win. They seemed a little unfocused. I know a lot of them have tests tomorrow and are very excited about Palm Springs. Sometimes, they just aren’t focused for 56 games. “
On the tournament this weekend…
“It is a very huge tournament. We play a very late night game for us [on Friday], and we will have to adapt to that, as well as the time change. There will be balls flying out of parks and upsets as well. It’s going to be a fun atmosphere with some of the best teams in the country. A lot will happen out there. We welcome the opportunity and the challenge.”
Pitcher Brittany Mack
On what was working for her tonight…
“I wanted to keep it simple and didn’t want to throw too many pitches out there. I stuck with the off-speed curveball, the change-up and the drop ball. I just stuck with those pitches, and I’m glad I was able to hit my spots tonight.”
On tonight’s game for the pitchers…
“Coach Girouard said that there was a good chance for all three of us to pitch tonight. This is a refresher for the weekend ahead.”
On playing in California…
“I think it’s an honor to play in California and show that we are one of the schools that’s good enough to play some of the top college softball teams in the country.”
Catcher Morgan Russell
On her approach at the plate as Designated Hitter…
“I was happy to be in the lineup. I wanted to do anything I could do to help the team tonight. When I stepped in the box, I thought to myself just to look for a good pitch. I couldn’t do anything without my team behind me.”
On the wild third inning…
“It’s softball, it happens. It was nice to get seven runs, and we will take runs anyway we can. I’m going to take it as a positive because we did have some good at-bats. I’m proud of our team.”
On the weekend coming up…
“We’re going to have to refocus and treat this weekend just like any other weekend. We don’t look at the name on the jersey [on the other team]. We need to stay positive, and I think our team is capable of doing anything we set our mind to. I’m not worried one bit. I think that if we stay focus and continue to play how we know how to play, then I’m not worried at all.”