BATON ROUGE – Ashley Applegate delivered a clutch two-run single with the bases loaded during the bottom of the 6th inning to propel the LSU softball team to a 3-2 comeback victory over Arkansas Sunday to complete a SEC series sweep playing in-front of a season’s best 1,426 fans at Tiger Park.
In the process, LSU (27-8, 10-1 SEC) pushed its season-high winning streak to 11 consecutive games. The Tigers also have emerged with victories in 16 of the last 17 meetings with Arkansas (18-16, 2-12 SEC). The 10-1 SEC start for LSU is the best since the 2000 season when the Tigers opened conference play with a 13-1 mark.
“They definitely fought hard for the win and fought hard to come back,” head coach Beth Torina said. “I think that’s a great thing to have in a team – just the ability to come back and the ability to fight. I think that will definitely help us down the road – way more than hits, errors, runs, all those things. The ability to have that fight and drive, I think that’s the key.”
Trailing 2-1 with one out in the sixth inning, LSU pieced together a trio of singles from Ashley Langoni, Juliana Santos and Allison Falcon to fill the bases. That set up Applegate, who crushed a 0-1 offering past the glove of Arkansas pitcher Kimmy Beasley. Langoni crossed the plate with the tying run, while Santos scooted home from second base and slid underneath the tag at home for the go-ahead run.
“Honestly, I couldn’t have wanted a different hitter up at that moment,” Torina said. “I just felt like she was seeing the ball so well today, and I just felt like she was going to get it done for us in that spot.”
“It feels great to be able to pull through for my teammates,” Applegate said. “I always want to go up there, do my best and to help the team any way that I can. It’s great because usually it’s the other way around. I’m used to being on the bases and them knocking me in. To be able to pull through for my teammates felt really great.”
Rachele Fico worked a routine 1-2-3 seventh inning to secure the 3-2 win for the Tigers. She moved to 13-4 on the season and garnered seven strikeouts versus two walks. Outside of the two solo home runs, the junior right-hander sat down 21 of the 24 batters she faced and didn’t allow Arkansas to reach scoring position.
“I think that throwing 14 innings for the weekend against Arkansas with the offense that they possess, for her to only give up six hits, that’s a pretty good performance,” Torina said. “We would’ve liked for two of them to not be home runs, of course two mistakes that she made. Ultimately, just six hits in 14 innings against an offense in the SEC – pretty solid pitching performances.”
LSU struck first with a run during the first inning. The Tigers capitalized on a fielding error by Razorback third baseman Chloe Oprezedek. Jacee Blades sprinted from first base to third base on a Langoni single through the right side. Santos followed with a RBI single up the middle to give LSU a 1-0 edge.
Arkansas responded with Andrea Sullivan and Clarisa Navarro solo home runs in the second and sixth innings, respectively, to grab a 2-1 advantage.
LSU’s offense received multi-hit efforts from Applegate, Langoni and Santos. Beasley was tagged for three runs, two earned, on seven hits to drop to 7-3 for the season.
“Obviously, we were struggling a little bit offensively,” Santos said. “But personally, I think that it was a little bit more for [Rachele] Fico. She’s had amazing outings for weeks upon weeks. Today she let them score just two runs. She missed two pitches so we just needed to come back and win it for Rachele because she’s just been doing so great, just like Brittany Mack and Meghan Patterson.”
LSU concludes its season series and meets Nicholls State Wednesday at Tiger Park. First pitch is on-tap for 6 p.m., and the first 750 fans will receive a set of 2012 LSU softball trading cards.
Live video, live audio and live stats are available 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 Lowe 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.
The Tiger Park Ticket Booth will open 90 minutes prior to first pitch. 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.
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 www.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 LSU Athletics Ticket Office continues to urge 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 for scanning purposes upon entrance to Tiger Park. 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
LSU vs. Arkansas – April 1, 2012
Head Coach Beth Torina
On getting the comeback win…
“They definitely fought hard for the win and fought hard to come back. I think that’s a great thing to have in a team – just the ability to come back and the ability to fight. I think that will definitely help us down the road – way more than hits, errors, runs, all those things. The ability to have that fight and drive, I think that’s the key.”
On Ashley Applegate getting the game-winning hit…
“Honestly, I couldn’t have wanted a different hitter up at that moment. I just felt like she was seeing the ball so well today, and I just felt like she was going to get it done for us in that spot.”
On Juliana Santos‘ base running to score the winning run…
“Yeah, they did a great job. They were really aggressive on the bases. She’s really focused – she always follows me. She does a really good job of watching all the way.”
On the adjustments that were made as the game progressed…
“I thought that we didn’t get a lot of breaks going along. We hit some balls hard at people. Of course as their at-bats went on, they seemed to get stronger and stronger and see it better. That’s the adjustment we should make as hitters. First at-bat, we should gather information. Second at-bat, we should put the ball in play. Third at-bat, we should be getting hits, and that’s exactly what they did – they did just what they were supposed to do.”
On Rachele Fico‘s performance and the offense coming through to get her the win…
“I think that throwing 14 innings for the weekend against Arkansas with the offense that they possess, for her to only give up six hits, that’s a pretty good performance. We would’ve liked for two of them to not be home runs, of course two mistakes that she made. Ultimately, just six hits in 14 innings against an offense in the SEC – pretty solid pitching performances.”
On the upcoming matchup against Nicholls State…
“We definitely need to make sure we stay focused on Nicholls. We have such a big series coming up next weekend, but the next few days are going to be about Nicholls. Then after that, we’ll worry about the weekend.”
Right Fielder Ashley Applegate
On completing the sweep and keeping the momentum…
“Coach [Beth] Torina has been telling us that we need to use this month of March to get to the beginning of April and have the most confidence. We need to carry the momentum into these tough series we’re about to face.”
On the importance of the comeback win for the team’s confidence…
“It’s a great feeling. Coach [Howard] Dobson works really hard with us, sending us up to the plate with a plan each game. We knew that Rachele Fico was throwing a really great game, and we knew we were seeing the ball. The thing was that we just needed to stick to our plan that Coach [Howard] Dobson gave us, and we just did it.”
On getting the game-winning hit…
“It feels great to be able to pull through for my teammates. I always want to go up there, do my best and to help the team any way that I can. For that just to finally happen, it just felt really great. I’m really proud to be a part of this team.”
On being given the opportunity with the bases loaded to drive home the winning run…
“It’s great because usually it’s the other way around. I’m used to being on the bases and them knocking me in. To be able to pull through for my teammates felt really great.”
On the upcoming matchup against Nicholls State…
“In-state teams always come in and give us their best effort. We’re expecting that, but we just need to play to the best of our ability. Playing well on Wednesday will allow us to continue to carry the momentum that we need into our series next weekend at Alabama.”
Shortstop Juliana Santos
On the comeback win…
“It was huge. Obviously, we were struggling a little bit offensively. But personally, I think that it was a little bit more for [Rachele] Fico. She’s had amazing outings for weeks upon weeks. Today she let them score just two runs. She missed two pitches so we just needed to come back and win it for Rachele because she’s just been doing so great, just like Brittany Mack and Meghan Patterson.”
On the play when she scored the winning run…
“I knew that Ashley [Applegate] has been doing awesome. I knew she was all over it, and I knew she was going to get a hit. I also knew that I needed to score because my run was going to put us ahead. Coach [Beth Torina] just told me to do whatever I needed to do to score so I had to be safe – there was no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it.”
On sticking to the plan that Coach Howard Dobson gives them…
“I think you would agree that quite a few of us made some really good outs early in the game. We made adjustments for our second and third at-bats. And it’s because we stuck to the plan. You just have to buy in, stick to the plan and have good at-bats. I think that we did a really good job of that today, and we were able to get the job done when we needed to.”
On the upcoming matchup against Nicholls State…
“Nicholls, McNeese, and Southeastern – they always come with their ‘A’ game. They always play tough, and they always play us very well. We just need to not take anyone for granted – just come out here and take care of business.”