TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 2 Alabama halted the No. 24 LSU softball team season’s best 12-game winning streak and emerged with a 6-0 decision Friday in-front of a season-high 3,266 fans at Rhoads Stadium.
The Tigers (28-9, 10-2 SEC) committed two critical errors that opened the door to a quartet of Crimson Tide (36-1, 13-1 SEC) runs.
Brittany Mack was handed her first loss since March 3, which ended a run of nine straight wins for the senior right-hander. She was touched up for six runs, four earned, on five hits. Mack notched five strikeouts against four walks and dropped to 12-5 on the season.
Jackie Traina went the distance for Alabama and tallied eight strikeouts against three free passes en route to her eighth shutout. The sophomore right-hander has won all 22 of her decisions in 2012.
LSU’s offense had eight of its nine starters reach base and eight base runners in the first four innings. A.J. Andrews, Jacee Blades, Allison Falcon and Tammy Wray all ripped singles.
The Tigers best opportunity to score came in the third inning after Falcon’s hit loaded the bases with two outs. However, Ashley Applegate grounded out to first base. She had her career-long six-game hitting streak come to a close.
“We didn’t play very good defense and made some mistakes,” head coach Beth Torina said. “The errors and leadoff walks made the score a lot worse that it was. Obviously, Alabama is a very quality opponent and a team that will take advantage of extra opportunities. There were some things that we couldn’t have done to make it a better ball game.”
The Crimson Tide was aided by a Kayla Braud leadoff walk followed by two infield singles to fill the bases during the first inning. A check-swing groundout off the bat of Kaila Hunt allowed the first run to score.
Two batters later with runners on second and third base, Jazlyn Lunceford coaxed a free pass. Jennifer Fenton started to move towards the plate. LSU catcher Lauren Houston scooted down the third base line to attempt to tag Fenton for the frame’s third out, but she threw the ball past third baseman Tammy Wray‘s head on the failed pickoff attempt. That allowed Fenton to cross the plate to make it 2-0.
Alabama used a Fenton opening walk, two stolen bases and another Hunt RBI ground out to push its lead to 3-0 after three innings.
Traina tacked on a three-run homer in the sixth inning. It was one of only two balls to leave the infield versus Mack. Earlier in the frame, the Crimson Tide was the beneficiary of an Ashleigh Kuhn throwing error on a force play at second base. Traina sat down the last 10 batters she faced in the circle to secure the 6-0 win.
“Timely hitting was the key, and we’ve been getting that timely hit lately,” head coach Beth Torina said. “Give credit to Traina because she made big pitches when she needed to. We have to make sure that we do a better job tomorrow when the same opportunities present themselves.”
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. 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 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.