BATON ROUGE – The LSU softball team collected three fall victories over the weekend at Tiger Park. The Tigers defeated Chipola Community College [7-5], Nicholls State [9-0] and McNeese State [3-0] as part of the LSU Collegiate Fall Classic.
“We’re getting better every time we take the field,” head coach Beth Torina said. “We definitely have some things still to work on, and I’m glad our season is not until February. Every time we take the field, we’re seeing really good things from different people.”
LSU erased a 4-1 deficit against Chipola with quartet of runs in the sixth inning. Ashley Applegate sparked the rally with a leadoff single, while Allison Falcon was hit-by-a-pitch. The Tigers took advantage of a Chipola fielding error to pull within 4-2.
Heidi Pizer and Dylan Supak ripped consecutive singles to knot the score at 4-4, while a Chipola throwing error vaulted LSU ahead by a run.
Chipola rallied for the equalizer, an unearned run, in the seventh inning. The Tigers fired back with two runs in the home half of the frame to clinch a 7-5 win. Brittany Mack secured the relief win and racked up four strikeouts during her two innings of work.
LSU’s bats exploded for a 9-0 victory over Nicholls State. The Tigers struck for runs on five occasions, including a pair of scores during the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the circle, Mack along with Rachele Fico fired in 14 Ks and was touched up for only two hits. The duo carried a combined no-hitter into the fifth inning.
Morgan Russell opened the scoring during the second inning and blasted a solo home run onto the left field berm to hand LSU an early 1-0 edge.
Ashley Langoni and Ashleigh Kuhn provided RBIs in the third, while Mack knocked a solo dinger to highlight the fourth to make it 5-0.
The Tigers continued the scoring deluge in the fifth as Wray and Alcaraz added sharp RBI singles to push the lead to 7-0. LSU put the finishing touches on the 9-0 victory with a Simone Heyward RBI single and Juliana Santos sacrifice fly.
“Our players definitely fight and work hard until the end of the game,” Torina said. “They’re never down, they’re never too up. They just continue to go right at people.”
LSU capped the weekend with a 3-0 triumph over McNeese State in eight innings. Fico turned in another dominant performance and garnered nine strikeouts during her six innings of work before giving way to Meghan Patterson in the bullpen.
Mack and Alcarez drew back-to-back walks to open the eighth inning. Pinch runner Jacee Blades used alert baserunning to score the game’s first run from second base on a McNeese error.
Simone Heyward added a pair of insurance runs with new Tiger Park’s first inside-the-park home run for the final margin of 3-0.
“Simone has worked extremely hard on all the changes we’ve asked her to make with her swing and the power aspect of her game,” Torina said. “She’s had really good contact on her swings. Developing this aspect of her game will make her even better.”
LSU wraps up its fall season with a pair of game this week. The Tigers meet LSU-Eunice on Wednesday followed by a Friday tilt versus Louisiana-Monroe. Admission is free to Tiger Park for all fall contests.