COLUMBIA, S.C. – The LSU softball team endured a three-hour rain delay, and used a four-hit shutout from Rachele Fico‘s powerful right arm to claim a 5-0 victory over South Carolina Friday to open a SEC series at Beckham Field.
Fico equaled a season’s best 10 strikeouts to claim her 10th win of the season. The junior right-hander also secured her eighth shutout during the 2012 campaign.
In the process, LSU (21-8, 5-1 SEC) won its 11th straight decision over South Carolina (19-14, 2-7 SEC).
Offensively, the Tigers received multi-hit performances from A.J. Andrews, Jacee Blades, Allison Falcon and Dylan Supak. Blades also tallied a career-high two RBIs.
“I thought we did a great job of staying focused through the rain delay,” head coach Beth Torina said. “I was proud of the players of being prepared to play when the game started. Fico threw hard and had fantastic stuff tonight.”
LSU raced out to a 2-0 edge in the first inning. Andrews drew a walk and advanced to third base on a Blades single on a textbook hit-and-run play. An illegal pitch allowed Andrews to cross the plate with the game’s first run, and an Ashley Langoni sacrifice fly scored Blades.
The Tigers tacked on three more runs during the second inning. With one out, Morgan Russell coaxed a free pass and scooted over to third base on a Supak double into the left centerfield gap. Andrews blasted a RBI single through the left side, while Blades placed a two-run double down the right field line to make it 5-0.
“A.J. and Jacee did a fantastic job of working together at the top of the lineup,” Torina said. “That put some much pressure on the opposing defense. They are both extremely fast, really difficult to defend and doing an excellent job of sparking the offense.”
That would be more than enough run support for Fico, who sat down 13 of her final 15 batters she faced to secure the final margin of 5-0.
South Carolina’s Kierstyn White dropped to 6-7 on the season and surrendered on five runs over 1.1 innings of work.
LSU’s defense snapped a stretch of seven consecutive games and had its first errorless game since a 1-0 win over Troy on March 10.
“I thought we did an awesome job of jumping of them early and keeping our heads right throughout the entire game,” Blades said. “We played a great defensive game too, but we’ll need to come out here and do the same thing tomorrow.”
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. CT with 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 Matt Dunaway 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.