BATON ROUGE – Dylan Supak provided a 2-for-4 performance, and the go-ahead two-run single during an eight-run third inning as the LSU softball turned the tables to pick up a 10-7 victory over Mississippi State Friday to open a three-game SEC weekend series at Tiger Park.
LSU (17-8, 2-1 SEC) extended its winning streak to 18 games over Mississippi State (17-10, 3-5 SEC) dating back to the 2005 season.
“It was nice to see us continue to score and keep putting the pressure on [after the third inning],” head coach Beth Torina said. “I thought Jacee Blades really stepped up for us tonight filling in at centerfield. Heidi Pizer earned that start tonight [at first base]. She’s been doing a lot of things really well in practice – she’s been working really hard. So I thought she deserved that opportunity tonight, and she proved me right. All of her work definitely paid off.”
Rachele Fico grinded out six-plus innings of work and surrendered just two earned runs on eight hits. She notched four strikeouts against four walks and improved to 8-4 on the season.
Kylie Vry was touched up for seven runs on seven hits in her two-plus frames of action and fell to 5-4.
“It’s funny how things work out,” Torina said. “We just talked about how Rachele had great stuff on Wednesday against Auburn and doesn’t get the win. Tonight, she maybe didn’t have her best stuff but still found a way to win. And I think that’s the sign of a good pitcher – even when you don’t have your best stuff, you still find a way to win.”
Down 4-1 in the third inning, the Tigers sent 12 batters to the dish and were ignited by Heidi Pizer, Ashley Applegate and Jacee Blades consecutive singles to fill the bases. A Vry illegal pitch made it 4-2 before an Ashley Langoni walk reloaded the bases.
Allison Falcon ripped a RBI single to left field to pull LSU back to within 4-3 before Dylan Supak deposited a 1-0 offering for a two-run single to vault the Tigers to a 5-4 edge.
The Bulldogs turned to Lindsey Dunlap out of the bull pen. She proceeded to plunk Kailey McCasland, Tammy Wray and Morgan Russell in succession to allow LSU to grab a 7-4 advantage.
Two batters later, MSU second baseman Heidi Shape committed a two-base error to cap the frame and extend the Tigers lead to 9-4.
“Coach [Torina] always says we need to have an answer for them,” Supak said. “If the other team comes out and has a good inning, then we’ll come out and have a better inning. And I feel like tonight we definitely had that answer that Coach [Torina] is talking about. Hitting is contagious. When you see a couple of people get on before you, you have that much more confidence when you get in the [batter’s] box.”
LSU added another run during the fifth inning and went ahead 10-4 on a Langoni bases loaded free pass.
The Bulldogs received RBI singles from Jessica Offutt and Kaili Smith in the sixth inning to slice the LSU advantage down to 10-6. MSU tacked on another run during the seventh inning and had the tying run on deck.
Brittany Mack entered the game in relief and recorded consecutive strikeouts to secure the 10-7 victory. For Mack, it was her third career save. The two Ks also allowed the senior right-hander to surpass Cody Trahan for fifth place on the program’s all-time strikeout list.
“Before I went out there, I went to [Rachele] Fico and told her that this one was going to be for her,” Mack said. “She worked her butt off all game long, and she definitely deserved this win. I was going to make sure she got it.”
Mississippi State struck for a quartet of unearned runs aided by three LSU errors during the first two innings to race out to a 4-1 spread. The Tigers scored their run in the home half of first inning as Applegate connected for a leadoff single, went to second base on a passed ball, moved to third base on a Blades ground out and crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
“Come out with a little bit better defense,” Supak said. “We’d like to come out with an errorless ball game. I think that would be a really good goal to come out with. We just need to keep swinging like we have and keep pitching the way we are because our pitchers are doing something right.”
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. with live video, live audio and live stats inside the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. The game also will be carried live Country Legends 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area with Patrick Wright and Kent Low set to call the action.
Fans also can follow every pitch of LSU softball this season via live in-game updates on LSU softball’s social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and @lsu_softball on Twitter.
LSU will honor 18 former Alumnae leading into Saturday’s middle game. The first 1,000 fans will receive a LSU drawstring bag and green K cards.
As part of Brittany Mack‘s “Geaux Play” initiative, LSU softball is encouraging fans to share the gift of sports with special needs children. Fans can donate new or gently used sports equipment during the remaining LSU softball home games at Tiger Park. For more information, visit LSUsports.net/geauxplay.
All items collected will be given directly to the Miracle League Association and six local schools that Mack will visit during the season. At LSU’s series finale versus Ole Miss on April 22, Mack will invite all the children to the game as her special VIP guests for “Geaux Play” day at Tiger Park.
The Tiger Park Ticket Booth will open 90 minutes prior to first pitch each day. Fans can purchase tickets on-site starting at $5 for adult general admission and $3 for youth ages 3-12. Tickets also are available online at www.LSUtix.net.
Season ticket holders will have their tickets scanned upon entrance to Tiger Park. The LSU Athletics Ticket Office urges season ticket holders to be cautious when separating their bar-coded tickets. The barcode must be attached to the ticket when arriving at the gate. If the barcode detaches, season ticket holders must stop by the LSU Athletics Ticket Office on the first floor of the Athletics/Administration Building for a reprint of their tickets.
Softball Postgame Quotes – March 16, 2012
LSU vs. Mississippi State
Head Coach Beth Torina
On the win…
“It was nice to see us continue to score and keep putting the pressure on. I thought we had some really quality at-bats in that group. I thought Jacee Blades really stepped up for us tonight filling in at centerfield, and she had some really quality at-bats throughout the night.”
On Heidi Pizer‘s performance and the importance of stepping up…
“She earned that start tonight [at first base]. She’s been doing a lot of things really well in practice – she’s been working really hard. So I thought she deserved that opportunity tonight, and she proved me right. All of her work definitely paid off.”
On the eight-run third inning…
“They did a nice job of continuing the inning. I thought when they had an opportunity, they pushed their runners across. It was nice that we got to see all of the pitchers from the other team so we kind of know what we’re getting for the rest of the series. They did a good job of piecing things together in that inning.”
On the comeback and the help of the defense…
“We’ve still have some defensive things that need cleaning up throughout, of course, but we’ll continue to play better. We were playing a freshman at shortstop tonight [Dylan Supak] who hasn’t been at that position. There’s a lot going on so she’s going to continue to get better and better.”
On Rachele Fico‘s performance…
“It’s funny how things work out. We just talked about how Rachele had great stuff on Wednesday against Auburn and doesn’t get the win. Tonight, she maybe didn’t have her best stuff but still found a way to win. And I think that’s the sign of a good pitcher – even when you don’t have your best stuff, you still find a way to win.”
On Brittany Mack coming in to end the game…
“She looked great. They’re [Fico and Mack] so good in contrast to each other. They look really different, and they’re a really nice compliment to each other. So I think one after the other, whichever way we go, they’re both going to be very successful.”
Infielder Dylan Supak
On the comeback win…
“Coach [Torina] always says we need to have an answer for them. If the other team comes out and has a good inning, then we’ll come out and have a better inning. And I feel like tonight we definitely had that answer that Coach [Torina] is talking about. Hitting is contagious. When you see a couple of people get on before you, you have that much more confidence when you get in the [batter’s] box.”
On having different people stepping up when their number is called…
“We had a couple of injuries, but all the people who came to those spots definitely filled them well tonight. It just shows that everyone works just as hard all the time. Jacee [Blades] has been working hard, Heidi [Pizer] has been working hard, everyone is working to make each other better, so when they’re called on, they aren’t missing a step.”
On making adjustments…
“The defense struggled at the beginning, but I feel that as the game goes on, we get better and better. After the big eight-run inning, that took a lot of pressure off of the pitchers. It took a lot of pressure off the defense.”
On Brittany Mack coming in to finish the game…
“All of our pitchers, when they come out, they have this sort of confidence – each one is different, definitely -with Mack coming out and bringing her intensity. When Fico was in the game, we just have a lot of confidence sitting behind out pitchers.”
On what needs to improve…
“Come out with a little bit better defense. We’d like to come out with an errorless ball game. I think that would be a really good goal to come out with. We just need to keep swinging like we have and keep pitching the way we are because our pitchers are doing something right.”
Pitcher Brittany Mack
On coming in for Fico…
“Before I went out there, I went to [Rachele] Fico and told her that this one was going to be for her. She worked her butt off all game long, and she definitely deserved this win. I was going to make sure she got it.”
On the offense’s performance and the importance of team chemistry…
“It’s definitely great. It’s nice to see that not only did we come out swinging, but we were able to see all of their pitchers. We’ve seen every single pitcher that they have and now we now that tomorrow, nothing is going to surprise us. Whoever they throw, we know exactly what they’ll throw and how we can hit them. So it’s great that we were able to do that and our hitters’ confidence must be through the roof.”