BATON ROUGE – The LSU softball team used a solid Brittany Mack pitching performance, alert baserunning from Alex Boulet and a timely two-out Tammy Wray RBI-single to notch its 20th victory of the season, a 2-1 triumph, over Georgia Tech Tuesday at Tiger Park.
LSU (20-8) won its fourth straight game and for the 17th time in its last 21 outings dating back to Feb. 19, while Georgia Tech (19-14) had its three-game winning streak halted.
In a battle of All-Americans, Mack outdueled Hope Rush on the pitcher’s mound. Mack won her sixth straight decision and improved to 9-4 on the season. The senior right-hander was touched up for an unearned run on five hits. She racked up nine strikeouts against five walks and stranded 10 Georgia Tech baserunners, six in scoring position.
“The bottom line is that Brittany Mack was phenomenal tonight,” head coach Beth Torina said. “She not only kept us in it with her pitching, but tonight she played defense. I thought she was really tough to hit for the entire game. I thought there was never a question with her. She was really solid and one of her best performances of the year.”
Trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning, Dylan Supak drew a leadoff walk to spark the Tigers. Pinch runner Alex Boulet advanced to second base on an Ashley Applegate ground out and scooted over to third base on a Lauren Houston fly ball to right field.
The frame stayed alive as Rikki Alcaraz drew a walk to place runners on the corners. That set the stage for Boulet, who alertly stole home to even the tally at 1-1 after a pickoff attempt of Alcaraz at first base. On the throw home, Alcaraz moved up to second base.
“I knew it was a really tight situation when they called me in,” Boulet said. “We had nobody out so we had a really good chance to score. Coach [Torina] talks about stepping up when your number is called all the time. I love when my name is called to run – it’s my favorite thing to do because I like to try and make things happen.”
On a full count offering, Wray ripped a RBI single through the middle to vault LSU ahead by a 2-1 margin.
“It was unbelievable because we all know that [Alex] Boulet has amazing speed,” Mack said. “She’s probably our best base-runner. And to have her just steal home like that got so much momentum and got everyone pumped up. For Tammy Wray to come in and get that hit, was just unbelievable – not just for us, but for her confidence. She was totally a different person out there on defense – relaxed and smiling. That just made me play that much better to see how positive she was.”
Georgia Tech’s best opportunity to draw even came during the sixth inning. The Yellow Jackets put runners on first and second base, but Mack helped her own cause by fielding a ground ball to keep the score at 2-1.
After a one-out hit batter, Mack received a stellar play from catcher Lauren Houston, who threw out the Georgia Tech runner attempting to steal second base. Two batters later, Mack fanned her counterpart, Rush, to close out the 2-1 win.
Rush fell to 12-9 for the season and surrendered two runs on four hits. LSU’s offense also worked their way to seven walks.
Offensively, Jacee Blades reached base all three times from the leadoff spot, while Applegate coaxed a pair of free passes.
“Honestly, our team has shown so much resilience, being able to call on anyone,” Torina said. “We’ve been able to get so many people in the lineup. Jacee Blades has stepped up big for the team over the last four games. She’s been such a huge help for this team, and she’s done so many things to spark this offense.
LSU returns to the road Friday to open a three-game SEC weekend series at South Carolina. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. CT with live audio and live stats available inside the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. The game also will be carried live on Country Legends 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area.
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.
Softball Postgame Quotes – March 20, 2012
LSU vs. Georgia Tech
Head Coach Beth Torina
On getting the win…
“The bottom line is that Brittany Mack was phenomenal tonight. She not only kept us in it with her pitching, but tonight she played defense. I thought she was really tough to hit for the entire game. I thought there was never a question with her. She was really solid and one of her best performances of the year.”
On Alex Boulet‘s base-running…
“In our last game on Sunday, I realized just how much she can change the game I made a conscious decision that I need to get her into more situations. It was obvious tonight when we had that runner on, I knew exactly who we were going with. It seems that whenever she’s on base, she scores. We definitely need to put her on-base more often.”
On Tammy Wray‘s game-winning RBI…
“She did a great job. Even the ball that she hit to right field later in the game that was an out was still a very good ball. She swung great tonight. She’s capable of doing that any day. She is one of the best hitters that we have. She just needs to continue to get her confidence and keep building from that. Hopefully, this helps get her back on track.”
On players stepping up when called upon…
“Honestly, our team has shown so much resilience, being able to call on anyone. We’ve been able to get so many people in the lineup. Jacee Blades has stepped up big for the team over the last four games. She’s been such a huge help for this team, and she’s done so many things to spark this offense. I think she’s earned her way into the lineup, even when everyone is healthy. She’s done such a great job, and it’s just nice to see people stepping up like that. A.J. Andrews stepped up tonight, got on base and did some things. So when we’re clicking on all cylinders, this team is going to be a very, very tough team to beat.”
On the upcoming series against South Carolina…
“Every team in the SEC is quality. Every time we face an SEC team, we bring our ‘A’ game, and we have to show up. I think anytime we can win three games in a weekend is huge, so of course, we’re setting out to get three wins just like every weekend on our schedule.”
Pinch Runner Alex Boulet
On coming in to pinch run and scoring…
“I knew it was a really tight situation when they called me in. We had nobody out so we had a really good chance to score. I just listened to the coaches, watched the play and did what they told me to do.”
On stealing home…
“Coach [Torina] pulled us aside and told us that on the second pitch Tammy [Wray] was going to fake drag. We were going to try to make some things happen with Rikki [Alcaraz] going to second. And as soon as they threw back, we thought they might throw to second or throw to pick me off, so I was ready for that. As soon as they threw to first base, I saw her get turned around and look for Rikki [Alcaraz] so I just took off.”
On stepping up when called upon…
“Coach [Torina] talks about that all the time. I love when my name is called to run – it’s my favorite thing to do because I like to try and make things happen.”
Pitcher Brittany Mack
On getting the win despite not playing in ideal conditions…
“It’s definitely great that even after an inning when they score, we’re able to come back the exact same inning and get two runs. It seemed that any time they got runners on-base, we were always able to have a positive outlook. Rikki [Alcaraz] made an unbelievable play at second to get that girl out [in the fourth inning]. We made adjustments, we knew they were stealing almost every first pitch. Our infielders made some adjustments and [Lauren] Houston made some really good throws.”
On keeping the momentum before going on the road against South Carolina…
“It’s great to have this win. They were higher than us in the polls, and we weren’t expected to win this game. Obviously, we’ve got our spirits up for now. We just need to make sure we carry that on to this weekend. We need to have a good practice and practice on all the things we need to work on and be ready to go.”
On being 20-8 after starting the season 4-4…
“We had a tough first couple of weeks against some really good ranked teams, but we make sure that from now on, no matter who we face, we don’t let that bother us because we know we’re a very good team. We just have to keep everything to ourselves – keep everything within us and know what we can handle. We just have to make sure that we play our game and not drop down to anyone’s level or play scared.”
On how anyone can step up and contribute for the team…
“It was unbelievable because we all know that [Alex] Boulet has amazing speed. She’s probably our best base-runner. And to have her just steal home like that got so much momentum and got everyone pumped up. For Tammy Wray to come in and get that hit, was just unbelievable – not just for us, but for her confidence. She was totally a different person out there on defense – relaxed and smiling. That just made me play that much better to see how positive she was.”