BATON ROUGE – With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning, Alex Boulet slapped a RBI single through the right side to lift the No. 21 LSU softball team to a dramatic 1-0 victory over Hofstra Friday to conclude day one of the Purple & Gold Challenge at Tiger Park.
The two victories vaulted head coach Yvette Girouard, who earlier in the day announced her plan to retire at the end of the season, to 500 wins at LSU.
The Tigers (14-5) filled the bases on consecutive two-out singles from Lauren Houston, Juliana Santos and Jacee Blades before Boulet delivered the clutch hit for her second career RBI.
“When you look at the scoreboard, it was one of those where either way you would be sick to your stomach,” Girouard said. “Our team just kind of decided it wasn’t going to happen, and we did all this with two outs.”
Brittany Mack was dominant in the circle and sat down the first 20 batters she faced. In the process, the junior right-hander powered her way to 11 strikeouts against zero walks. Defensively, Mack was busy and recorded six assists in the field. The two-hit shutout allowed her to improve to 5-1 on the season.
“We went back to cutting it down and making it simple (at practice last week),” Girouard said. “We just did a volume of pitches in the bullpen for her, and she was very sharp tonight. She was incredible helping ourselves on defense.”
Hofstra’s best chance to score came in the eighth inning. The Pride had the go-ahead runner at third base with two outs when Jess Hirschbuhl knocked a ground ball towards the hole at second base. Jacee Blades dove to backhand the ball and threw the runner out from her knees to keep the game scoreless.
LSU slugged its way to 13 hits offensively as Blades and Houston along with Simone Heyward, Tiffany Shaw and Tammy Wray provided multi-hit efforts at the plate.
LSU 4, Pittsburgh 0
Meghan Patterson‘s pursuit of her second career no-hitter came up two batters short as the Destrehan native faced one batter over the minimum during a 4-0 victory over Pittsburgh.
The lone damage to Patterson was an Ashley Amistade bunt single with one out in the seventh inning. She cruised her way to 5-0 highlighted by a stretch of 17 straight Panthers retired and provided eight strikeouts against one walk.
LSU dented the scoreboard with a single run in the fifth inning. Tammy Wray connected for a leadoff double into the left centerfield gap. After pinch runner Alex Boulet swiped her 10th stolen base of the season, she crossed the plate on an Ashley Langoni RBI single to put the Tigers ahead 1-0.
LSU tacked a trio of insurance runs during the sixth inning as Simone Heyward and Tiffany Shaw set the table with a pair of two-out singles. Anissa Young ripped a 1-0 offering for a three-run dinger, her sixth of the season, to straight-away centerfield to extend the Tiger advantage to 4-0.
“Meghan Patterson came out today, controlled them, worked ahead in the count and she gave us very quality innings. Anissa Young is playing very well right now and swinging a strong stick for us.”
LSU faces off against No. 12 Texas Saturday in its first game of day two at the Purple & Gold Challenge. First pitch is on-tap for 12:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on CST. Lyn Rollins and Cheri Kempf will handle the broadcasting duties.
Live stats also are available on LSUsports.net/live stats and Fans can follow in-games updates via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.
The Tiger Park Ticket Booth opens Saturday at 9 a.m. and fans can purchase tickets on-site starting at $5 for adult general admission. Additional ticket information for LSU’s home series with SEC heavyweights Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee is available at www.LSUtix.net.
LSU Softball Quotes
Purple and Gold Challenge
March 4, 2011
Head Coach Yvette Girouard
On the Hofstra game …
“I would have been sick to my stomach for Brittany Mack because she was phenomenal and played such outstanding defense, which had kind of been an Achilles heal for her. She was truly the fifth infielder on the field tonight. Defensive gems everywhere on the field for both teams. Jacee Blades made a spectacular play to save a run in the eighth inning. Alex Boulet comes up with the biggest hit of the game.”
On team’s persistence …
“When you look at the scoreboard, it was one of those where either way you would be sick to your stomach. I guess our team just kind of decided it wasn’t going to happen, and we did all this with two outs. Hopefully, this is a learning experience for our team that it is not over until the umpire says to go home.”
On Brittany Mack …
“We went back to cutting it down and making it simple (at practice last week). We just did a volume of pitches in the bullpen for her and she was very sharp tonight. She was incredible helping ourselves on defense.”
On the Pitt game …
“Meghan Patterson came out today, controlled them, worked ahead in the count and she gave us very quality innings. Anissa Young is playing very well right now and swinging a strong stick for us.”
On Texas tomorrow …
“They got us twice last year, and I thought we played phenomenal against them. We’ve got them on our turf, and they are a fantastic team. We will have to play very well.”