BATON ROUGE – Rachele Fico and Meghan Patterson fired a pair of shutouts as the LSU softball team ran its winning streak to six games with victories over South Alabama and Alcorn State Sunday to conclude the Tiger Invitational.
“I feel like we dodged two bullets today, but at the end of the day we’re 4-0 on the weekend,” head coach Beth Torina said. “You can’t really be too upset about that. There are still a lot of things we have to do better, without question. We have tons of work to do this week. We’ll continue to work and continue to grow.”
LSU (9-4) emerged with a 1-0 victory over South Alabama. Fico sprayed seven hits and notched five strikeouts against three walks to improve to 5-1 on the season. It was the third consecutive shutout for the junior right-hander.
LSU’s defense made three big plays to keep the Jaguars (6-5) off the scoreboard.
With one out and runners on the corners, South Alabama’s Haley Hopkins missed on a squeeze bunt attempt. Alertly, catcher Morgan Russell made a snap throw to third base to pick off the lead runner.
The Jaguars attempted to score in the third inning on a Hopkins two-out single to left field. Ashley Langoni charged the ball and fired a textbook one-hopper to the plate to gun down South Alabama’s Alyssa Linn to preserve the 1-0 score.
In the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out, South Alabama’s Haley Richards knocked a line drive to third baseman Tammy Wray. After making the catch, Wray turned around to tag the runner for the third out of the frame.
Fico escaped another bases loaded jam in the seventh and got Brittany Fowler to line out to second baseman Rikki Alcaraz, who made a running catch going to her right to secure the 1-0 win.
“I thought South Alabama out-played us in all aspects for the most part,” Torina said. “We made some spectacular defensive plays that kept us in it, and Rachele Fico just continued to battle. It’s easy to play defense behind somebody throwing that well.”
LSU scored the game’s only run during the second inning. Alcaraz smoked a leadoff double to centerfield fence and advanced to third base on a Dylan Supak sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, Hopkins attempted her own pickoff play on Alcaraz, but the ball scooted into left field to allow Alcaraz to cross the plate.
“It’s really important to hit the ball hard all the time and keep your head up no matter what happens, even if you get a strikeout sometimes,” Alcaraz said. “Also, I have to go out there, be confident all the time and swing hard. Everything’s been good for me.”
Game 2 – LSU 2, Alcorn State 0
In her first start of the season, Meghan Patterson racked up a career-high 13 strikeouts to secure LSU’s eight shutout. Her previous career-best was 11 Ks versus Bowling Green and Louisiana Tech during the 2011 campaign.
The Destrehan native carried a no-hit bid two outs into the sixth inning. Alcorn State (4-9) proceeded to put the go-ahead run before Patterson fanned three of her final batters sandwiched in-between a 23-minute power delay to nail down the 2-0 victory.
“Meghan did a nice job,” Torina said. “I feel like both times she’s taken the field this year, I’ve been happy with her. She held Cal down one time through the lineup and was pretty solid. It was definitely a solid performance from her today. She’s a talented pitcher though, we expect these types of performances from her. Without question, we have three very talented pitchers. All of them will continue to contribute during the season.”
“I was really excited when Coach (Torina) told me I was pitching the game,” Patterson said. “I just took it one batter at a time, I didn’t want to get ahead of myself because she wants us to get a little leeway and a record. I made sure that I took it slow and didn’t get too ahead of myself.”
LSU broke through for singles runs in the second and third innings. Juliana Santos opened the second with a single to centerfield and swiped second base. She came around to score as Alcaraz ripped a RBI single through the right side.
Heidi Pizer coaxed a leadoff walk to start the third. She moved to second base on an A.J. Andrews infield single. Following a Simone Heyward ground out, Pizer scampered home on an Ashley Langoni sacrifice fly for the final margin of 2-0.
LSU returns to road next weekend for the Preview Tournament and have a quartet of games slated against No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 21 Oklahoma State.
Follow every pitch LSU softball this season via live stats on www.LSUsports.net/livestats. Fans also can receive live in-game updates on LSU softball’s social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and @lsu_softball on Twitter.
Tiger Invitational All-Tournament Team
Rikki Alcaraz – LSU
Rachele Fico – LSU
Haley Hopkins – South Alabama
Alyssa Lin – South Alabama
Ashley Modzelewski – McNeese State
Meghan Patterson – LSU
Morgan Russell – LSU
Dylan Supak – LSU
Claire Terracina – McNeese State
Softball Postgame Quotes
LSU vs. South Alabama & Alcorn State – February 26, 2012
HEAD COACH BETH TORINA
On the upcoming weekend …
“We definitely have a lot of work to do to prepare for this weekend. It’s nice to go in on a win streak, and it’s nice to build a little bit of confidence for girls before we get there. We know what we need to do to prepare this week. I’m glad that we have a long week here so we can really, really do what we need to do to be ready.”
On freshmen Rikki Alcarez and Dylan Supak
“They did a nice job. It’s nice to see the young ones really contribute, and it’s nice to see them step up to the plate with some confidence too. I was really happy with the two of them this weekend.”
On the South Alabama game …
“No question, with the defense, we dodged a bullet today. I thought South Alabama out played us in all aspects for the most part. We made some spectacular defensive plays that kept us in it, and Rachele Fico just continued to battle. It’s easy to play defense behind somebody throwing that well. We definitely dodged a bullet today, and we know it. That’s kind of how the game works.”
On pitcher Megan Patterson …
“She did a nice job. I feel like every time she’s taken the field this year, I’ve been happy with her. She held Cal down one time through the lineup and was pretty solid. It was definitely a solid performance from her today. She’s a talented pitcher though, we expect these types of performances from her. Without question, we have three very talented pitchers. All of them will continue to contribute during the season.”
On pitcher Rachele Fico …
“I didn’t think that a lot of things were well hit off of her. She had a couple balls that were well hit, but for the most part, I thought she kept them (South Alabama) pretty off-balanced. She’s a fierce competitor. When you see the look on her face, she’s just determined not to let them score. She’ll do whatever it takes for the team. She gets her defense going, she talks a lot and she really feeds off of that adrenaline too.”
On finding a way to win …
“I feel like we dodged two bullets today, but at the end of the day we’re 4-0 on the weekend. You can’t really be too upset about that. There are still a lot of things we have to do better, without question. We have tons of work to do this week. We’ll continue to work and continue to grow.”
PITCHER MEGHAN PATTERSON
On keeping the winning streak going …
“I was really excited. Coach (Torina) told me I was pitching the game, so I got ready for it. I just took it one batter at a time, I didn’t want to get ahead of myself because she wants us to get a little leeway and a record. I made sure that I took it slow and didn’t get too ahead of myself.”
On competing with the other pitchers …
“We push each other. It really helps out with the other pitchers do really well, because you know that you definitely have to do well. So you make sure you’re on your ‘A’ game every chance you get to pitch.”
INFIELDER RIKKI ALCARAZ
On working hard in practice …
“It’s really important to hit the ball hard all the time and keep your head up no matter what happens, even if you get a strikeout sometimes. Also, I have to go out there, be confident all the time and swing hard. Everything’s been good for me.”
On making impressive plays …
“It’s going to be really hard getting all these balls in the hole. But you have to go out there and dive no matter what. You have to dive if it’s a really hard ground ball, because if you don’t, you’re going to miss the ball. I think that I always have to hustle no matter what the situation is, because that’s what everyone expects from you, to be a good player.”