LSU Softball Report - March 18

Overall Record: 18-10 [2-4 SEC]

Last Week: 1-2
March 14 – No. 1 Florida [L, 6-7 – 8 Innings]
March 15 – No. 1 Florida [W, 3-2]
March 16 – No. 1 Florida [L, 2-10 – 5 Innings]

This Week:
March 19 – Nicholls [Thibodaux, La., 6 p.m.; www.LSUsports.net/livestats]
March 22 – No. 22 Oklahoma [Norman, Okla., 2 p.m.; www.LSUsports.net/livestats]
March 23 – No. 22 Oklahoma [Norman, Okla., Noon;  www.LSUsports.net/livestats]

Nominee for SEC Offensive Player of the Week

Allison Falcon, Sr., Donaldsonville, La.
LSU senior infielder Allison Falcon helped drive the Tiger offense on the weekend as the second baseman from Donaldsonville batted .500 and produced a slugging percentage of 1.250 with four extra-base hits, two RBI and two runs scored against No. 1 Florida over the weekend. Falcon powered the LSU offense as the Tigers took game two of the series, as she went 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. She drove in LSU’s first run on a double to left center, scoring on a squeeze play to put LSU up two. Falcon helped put the game away as she cranked a solo home run to make it 3-0 Tigers in the fourth, earning her third double of the weekend in the sixth.

Nominee for SEC Freshman Player of the Week

Sahvanna Jaquish, Highland, Calif.
LSU Freshman Sahvanna Jaquish hit two home runs and drove in three against Florida over the weekend to finish with a hitting percentage of .500 and slugged 1.375, as she currently leads the team with eight home runs and 27 RBI. For the second time in her last three games, the Highland, Calif., native went deep twice in the same game, doing so in the series opener against the Gators, finishing the night going 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Jaquish had a hit in every game as she had a double in game two with a run scored and netted another hit in the finale on Sunday. Jaquish accounts for all eight home runs hit by freshmen on the team this season, as she has earned 12 total extra base hits on the year.

Notes on the Tigers
LSU is 18-10 on the season and 2-4 in the SEC after dropping the series to top-ranked Florida 2-1 over the weekend. LSU has dropped its first two conference series’ of the season for the first time since the 2011 season. Head Coach Beth Torina won her 100th game at LSU with the 3-2 win over the Gators on Saturday. Torina is the fourth head coach in team history to win at least 100 games in an LSU tenure. LSU was run-ruled for the first time all season in the finale on Sunday. LSU outhit Florida in two of the three games of the series, finishing with a .380 batting average to Florida’s .263. The Tigers had their ninth multi-home run game of the season in the series opener, as the group has hit three home runs in a game three times this season. In the same game, Sahvanna Jaquish and Kellsi Kloss hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning, as it was the fourth time this season two teammates have connected on consecutive home runs and the 22nd time it’s happened in team history. LSU has hit 11 home runs this season with no outs on the board, hitting that same amount when having two outs in an inning. Allison Falcon and Jaquish each hit .500 for the team in the series against UF, being two of four players to earn four hits on the weekend. Falcon went 4-for-8 with two RBI and two runs scored. Falcon had three doubles and a home run to her credit, finishing with a slugging percentage of 1.250. In game two alone, Falcon had two, two-baggers and hit the solo home run that gave LSU a 3-0 lead which the team held on to for the win. Jaquish also went 4-for-8 and hit two home runs in a game for the second time in her last three in the series opener against the Gators. Jaquish has hit three of the last five home runs the Tigers have hit, and five of the last 10. She leads the team with eight home runs on the year, as half have come from as the leadoff batter in an inning. A.J. Andrews is on a 10-game hitting streak, which is the longest on the team this season. Andrews had four hits against Florida, including hitting her second triple of the season in Sunday’s game where she went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Andrews leads the team with a .398 batting average, 37 hits and 22 stolen bases. Bailey Landry is hitting .364 on the season after hitting .444 against the Gators. Bianka Bell had two RBI and earned three hits over the weekend, which included her team-leading seventh double of the season. Of Bell’s 26 hits, 14 have been for extra bases. Tammy Wray went 1-for-4 with an RBI, as she played solid defense all weekend with five putouts and seven assists. Constance Quinn had the game-tying hit in the bottom of the seventh in game one after Florida stormed back, as she played in two games and had a stolen base. Kloss hit her sixth home run of the season, which is tied for second on the team. The LSU pitching staff gave up five home runs for the second consecutive week, finishing with a combined earned run average of 5.95. Ashley Czechner earned the only win of the weekend as she held Florida to just two runs in a complete-game victory. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Czechner who improved to 5-6. Baylee Corbello threw 193 pitches in game one in 7.1 innings of work. Corbello had 11 strikeouts in that game and was her fourth double-digit strikeout performance of the season. Kelsee Selman took both losses after giving up four runs on three hits with two walks and a strikeout in 0.2 innings of work.