PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Rachele Fico fired 4.2 innings of two-hit relief with nine strikeouts, but No. 3 Arizona emerged with a 4-1 victory over the No. 20 LSU softball team Friday at the Big League Dreams Complex.
Fico retired 13 of the final 15 hitters en route to her nine Ks. The Oxford, Conn., product held the potent Arizona offense to an infield single and a walk down the stretch.
Simone Heyward was 2-for-4 with a run scored in her return to the starting lineup after missing the last five games due to injury.
“I thought Rachele was phenomenal,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “She came in during that [second] inning and wasn’t quite as locked in as she turned out to be the rest of the game. I thought she threw very hard, hit her spots and her change up was working against some of the nation’s best hitters.”
The Wildcats (11-1) crept out to a 4-0 lead thru two innings as the heart of the Arizona order provided RBIs. Stacie Chambers knocked a RBI double with two outs in the first inning.
With one out and the bases loaded during the second inning, Lauren Schutzler platted two more with a RBI double in left centerfield gap, while Bridgette Del Ponte added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
Brittany Mack was tagged with the loss over 1.1 innings of work and fell to 3-1 on the season. She issued four walks and left the game with the bases loaded in the second.
The Tigers (10-4) took advantage of a Heyward triple to start the third inning. After Ashley Langoni coaxed a walk and Anissa Yong was hit-by-pitch to fill the bases, Heyward scampered home on a RBI fielder’s choice by Tammy Wray.
LSU was poised to trim the deficit even more, but Morgan Russell fouled out coupled with a Jacee Blades ground out to keep the score at 4-1.
“We really missed Simone’s spark in our lineup last weekend,” Girouard said. “She looked awfully good for us. We had our opportunities on offense and made some things happen. Unfortunately, we couldn’t cash in with a hit to get that big inning. I’m proud of our team for playing hard and taking their hacks.”
LSU filled the bases during the seventh inning as Heyward slapped an infield single, Juliana Santos drew a walk and Young was hit-by-a-pitch.
Arizona hurler Kenzie Fowler forced Langoni and Wray into a foul outs to allow the Wildcats to escape with the 4-1 win. Fowler tallied eight strikeouts and stranded 10 LSU base runners to move to 9-0 on the season.
“You’re playing against some the best teams in the country during this tournament. Arizona is a program that has won many national championships. Credit Fowler for digging deep and making pitches when she needed to.”
LSU returns to the diamond Saturday against No. 14 California at 5 p.m. CT followed by a 7:30 p.m. CT match-up with Fordham. 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.