BATON ROUGE – In the fourth-annual “Strikeout Ovarian Cancer” game, the No. 3 LSU softball team looked to keep its record unblemished not only in the game, but at home in Tiger Park, and did so plating six runs on 11 hits to pull away and defeat the No. 24 Texas A&M Aggies 6-1 Saturday night in Baton Rouge.
After scoring a run in the very first inning, things were close until the Tigers (40-5, 12-4 Southeastern) scored five-straight runs from the fourth on while the Aggies were only able to plate their lone run in the fifth and nothing more as LSU improved to 4-0 in the Teal game and 29-0 at home in 2015.
“I think second time through the lineup, we were able to make some adjustments off of their pitcher, and our offense did a good job at staying with the plan and trusting it,” head coach Beth Torina said. “Ultimately we came away today with the victory.”
Eight of the nine batters for LSU earned a hit on the night, with the top three batters in the order in A.J. Andrews, Bailey Landry and Bianka Bell having two each. The trio went all went 2-for-4, with Andrews having a double and two runs scored, Landry extending her hitting streak to 14 games and Bell earning two hits and scoring twice.
“I think that today we all just focused on coming out on the attack,” Andrews said. “We just have to realize that we are a team that is very good, and we have to continue to be very good. We can’t lie down and let other people come in. At times we are the better team but we let other people come out to a better start.”
The RBI production came from the rest of the order, as Sahvanna Jaquish tied Andrews for the single-season record for sac flies with seven, while driving in a run to give her 63 on the season which also ties the single season record. Kellsi Kloss extended her hitting streak to a now career-record eight games, with Alayna Falcon and Emily Griggs each driving one home.
“It’s definitely a team effort, especially when the bottom of our lineup is making the pitcher pitch a lot of pitches, it helps the top of the lineup see more pitches before we get up to the plate,” Jaquish said.
LSU starting pitcher Carley Hoover (12-2) earned the win for the Tigers by scattering five hits and allowing one run with six strikeouts and four walks, tossing 146 pitches against Texas A&M. Although running into a few trouble spots on the night, one of LSU’s two national freshman of the year candidates stood tall and helped the cause by having Texas A&M strand eight runners on base over the course of the game.
“Tonight was a little different for me. It was just one of those days where you didn’t feel on and thank God my defense was,” Hoover said. “My defense was great tonight and I let a lot of balls go in play and they played really well tonight.”
Rachel Fox (18-10) suffered the loss, pitching five innings and allowing five runs, three earned, on 10 hits with a walk and strikeout. Texas A&M turned two errors in the game which led to LSU runs scoring, as her replacement in Lauren Ainsley pitched one inning and gave up a run on a hit, while tossing two wild pitches. Celena Massey had one of the five hits for the Aggies, driving in the team’s only run of the game.
After A&M went down in order in the opening half inning, Andrews led off the LSU inning with a single through the middle of the infield. A perfectly placed bunt single by Landry put two on for the Tigers, as on the next play the duo raced for the next base up and made it cleanly, as Andrews scored on an errant throw to give LSU a 1-0 lead.
Texas A&M threatened in the top of the second, as after getting the first two outs of the frame, Hoover ran into a bit of trouble as consecutive singles put two on for the Aggies. A walk loaded the bases to add to the pressure, but a grounder and throw to Jaquish ended the frame for the visitors. The Aggies nearly broke through again as a single and error put a runner at second, before two outs and a walk put runners at the corners with a strikeout keeping Texas A&M off the board.
In the bottom of the fourth, Bell opened the frame with a ripped shot through the right side to reach first. After going deep into the count, Jaquish singled through the right side to put two on, as a grounder by Kloss advanced the two to second and third.
After an infield popup, it looked like the two would be stranded, but that’s when Falcon looped one over the glove of the first baseman and into right to score Bell to give LSU a 2-0 lead. Griggs followed with a hard-hit grounder up the middle to score Jaquish to make it 3-0 Tigers.
Texas A&M finally broke through with a pair of hits to cut the LSU lead to two at 3-1, as the Tigers took to the bottom half of that same inning in the fifth and got a single from Landry and advance to second on a throwing error to open the frame. Bell also singled to the circle to put runners at the corners, stealing second on the next play to put two in scoring spots.
Jaquish roped a low-flying shot to the warning track in center, scoring Landry on the sacrifice fly to make it 4-1. Kloss followed up dropping a single on the Tiger eye in center to score Bell easily from third to give LSU a 5-1 lead. With an out in the sixth, Andrews dropped a double down the left field line, eventually coming around to score on consecutive wild pitches for the game’s final run to put LSU up 6-1.
“Honestly whether we lost or not, this day is a win because we honored these women that are truly heroes and they inspire all of us to support the fact that they have had the battle,” Torina said. “Hopefully we are able to raise some awareness today. I know the money that we raised this morning will directly affect them right here in Baton Rouge. It’s been an amazing day for the program.”
With the win, LSU now has 40 wins in a season for the third time under Torina in her four years in Baton Rouge, and the first time since 2013, earning the victory on one of the biggest days of the year for the program.
“Honestly it’s such an honor that I’m even pitching in this game tonight. I mean there were four options to throw tonight, but the fact that I get to wear the jersey on the field and coach dressed me in a game that means so much to her, I’m just really honored to be out there tonight,” Hoover said. “It was just a really, really cool day to see everyone and meet people and to hear their stories. I don’t really cry but I was really trying not to cry all day.”
Game two of the series is set for a 6 p.m. start on Sunday, with the game being televised live on the SEC Network with Adam Amin and Amanda Scarborough.
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