BATON ROUGE – The No. 23 LSU softball team put a season’s long four-game losing streak in the rear view mirror and notched a 2-1 victory over McNeese State Tuesday at Tiger Park.
In the process, the Tigers (30-13) emerged with their 30th victory of the season for the 16th consecutive time since softball was reinstated in 1997. LSU also claimed its sixth straight victory over McNeese State (25-13).
Offensively, Ashley Langoni turned in a 2-for-3 performance for her team-leading 11th multi-hit effort of the season. Juliana Santos and Cassie Trosclair picked up the RBIs for the Tigers.
“We are lucky to have those two (Santos and Langoni), and they really showed their senior leadership,” head coach Beth Torina said. “They found a way to get it done for us tonight. I can’t say enough about those two and how important they were tonight. Cassie is a very talented player too. She is one that could make the lineup at any time, but she has battled injuries all year. It is nice to see her get an opportunity and get it done.”
Meghan Patterson posted her second straight complete game outing and improved to 4-0 on the season. She sprayed one run on seven hits and worked around a career-high six walks versus three strikeouts.
The Tigers grabbed a 1-0 advantage during the four inning with a two-out rally. Ashley Langoni and Juliana Santos provided consecutive doubles on back-to-back pitches for the game’s first run. Langoni laced her two-bagger into the right centerfield gap, while Santos ripped her double down the left field line.
LSU tacked on an all-important insurance run in the fifth inning. Tammy Wray crushed a leadoff double off the left field wall, inches away from escaping the park. Pinch runner Tammy Vermeulen scooted over to third base on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Cassie Trosclair deposited a 1-2 offering into centerfield for a RBI single to enable LSU to increase its lead to 2-0.
“It is all about adjustments,” Trosclair said. “We just had to let the ball get deep. We were only up 1-0 with a runner on third, so I just had to put the ball in play and get the run in.”
McNeese State drew back to within 2-1 during the seventh inning after pinch hitter Tiffany Denham placed a two-out, RBI single to left centerfield.
Patterson regrouped and got Dani Price to pop out to Trosclair at second base to secure the 2-1 victory. The sophomore right-hander stranded 12 Cowgirl base runners, seven of them in scoring position.
“I think the key to her [Patterson’s] night is that she finished better than she started,” Torina said. “I thought she started really rough but was able to figure some things out. She was able to finish a lot stronger than she started and threw a lot more strikes. It was a lot tougher to hit there at the end. I was happy to see that she continued to improve as the game went on.”
McNeese State’s Bianca Lilly was dealt the loss and dropped to 1-1 for the season. She retired 11 straight LSU hitters to open the game before Langoni and Santos struck for back-to-back doubles. The freshman southpaw tallied two strikeouts against zero walks.
LSU continues its five-game week inside the friendly confines of Tiger Park with a Wednesday match-up versus No. 22 Florida State. First pitch is on-tap for 6 p.m. and season tickets holders are asked to bring their original FSU ticket from February’s rain out for admission.
“They are ranked ahead of us, so taking a game from them will definitely help us not only in the rankings and in RPI, but just in confidence,” Santos said. “We did not play very well last weekend at Tennessee. It’s important to go into tomorrow’s game with a winning mind set. We just need to get the job done by doing all of the little things. That is going to be really important tomorrow.”
Wednesday’s contest also marks “Student Point Night”, and the first 1,000 fans will receive a LSU softball stein.
Live video, live audio and live stats will be available inside the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net/live and fans 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.
Head Coach Beth Torina
On getting the win…
“We will take it anyway we can get it especially late in the year. Getting the 30th one, that is something special. We are glad to make it to that mark, and hopefully we can keep climbing from there.”
On the back to back doubles in the fourth inning …
“We are lucky to have those two (Santos and Langoni), and they really showed their senior leadership. They found a way to get it done for us tonight. I can’t say enough about those two and how important they were tonight.”
On Cassie Trosclair…
“She is a very talented player. She is one that could make the lineup at any time, but she has battled injuries all year. It is nice to see her get an opportunity and get it done.”
On Meghan Patterson…
“I think the key to her night is that she finished better than she started. I thought she started really rough but was able to figure some things out. She was able to finish a lot stronger than she started and threw a lot more strikes. It was a lot tougher to hit there at the end. I was happy to see that she continued to improve as the game went on.”
On playing Florida State…
“FSU will be a very big challenge. They bring a lot of things to the ball park; good pitching and solid defense. They are definitely a challenge on multiple angles for us, and hopefully we get a good pitching performance. We have been looking for one of those for a couple of weeks now, a great pitching performance from one of our two [Rachele Fico or Brittany Mack]. Hopefully, we can get the offense swinging better than they did tonight.”
Second Baseman Cassie Trosclair
On getting a win with a big week coming up…
“Nobody beats us without paying for it so we knew we had to come out here and put some work on McNeese so that we could get some positive vibes going for the whole week. We have four more games ahead, and we plan on getting all of them.”
On her RBI single with two outs…
“It is all about adjustments. We just had to let the ball get deep. We were only up 1-0 with a runner on third, so I just had to put the ball in play and get the run in.”
On Meghan Patterson…
“Meghan has been working really hard, and it definitely showed tonight. She pitched her butt off tonight, and I am proud of her.”
On playing Florida State…
“It is always exciting to play another Top 25 team. We have been waiting for this game. We were supposed to play it at the beginning of the season. There’s no doubt, we are definitely excited and have been working hard.”
Shortstop Juliana Santos
On getting a win with a big week coming up…
“That was not a pretty win, but at the end of the day it goes as a ‘W’ in the book. That is all that matters. It is really important, we need these five games. We put ourselves in a bad spot getting swept at Tennessee. That is something that we pride ourselves on, and that is something that we do not want to have happen again. Coming back and winning these five games will put us in a better spot so really need to come back strong. Winning this first game will help get us rolling a little bit.”
On getting on the scoreboard…
“For some reason, we tend to struggle a little bit with the slower pitching. We made an adjustment the second at-bat; we just moved up in the box and zoned up because she was throwing drop balls. Our goal was to just hit it hard. That is all we really wanted to do because in the first inning we really didn’t hit anything square. We were just really focusing on zoning up and hitting something square. Langoni and I were able to do that and get us on the board.”
On Meghan Patterson…
“Meghan Patterson always pitches great. Tonight, she struggled a little bit. However, when we needed her the most she got it done. At the end of the day, that is all that matters. We are 100 percent confident in Meghan any day.”
On playing Florida State…
“They are ranked ahead of us, so taking a game from them will definitely help us not only in the rankings and in RPI, but just in confidence. We did not play very well last weekend at Tennessee. It’s important to go into tomorrow’s game with a winning mind set. We just need to get the job done by doing all of the little things. That is going to be really important tomorrow.”