BATON ROUGE, La. – After powering through its season-opener just hours earlier, the third-ranked LSU softball team returned to the field for its nightcap and produced a similar effort in battering the North Florida Ospreys to the tune of nine runs on six hits, while getting a one-hit shutout from freshman pitcher Sydney Smith to earn a sweep of opponents on the first day of the 2016 Tiger Classic.
While LSU (2-0) was able to score a bulk of their nine runs much earlier in the first game, the Tigers didn’t have to wait long to get its offense going, scoring seven runs in the second and third innings to take a commanding lead, getting the final two runs needed to earn the run-rule victory over the Ospreys (0-2) in the fourth.
“Obviously there are things we need to do better, but I liked that we were able to make adjustments from game to game,” head coach Beth Torina said. “I thought we saw two completely different styles and we were able to make adjustments. We got contributions from a lot of different people.”
Although LSU didn’t have a player with a multi-hit game against UNF, they were still able to get production throughout the lineup with six different players earning a hit on the night.
The biggest hit came from the bat of senior infielder Jenna Kreamer who notched LSU’s first home run of the season with a grand slam to give LSU a 4-0 lead in the third. It was Shreveport native’s first home run in a Tiger uniform, going 1-for-2 with four RBIs and a run scored.
Along with Kreamer, four other LSU players drove in a run with Emily Griggs bringing in one with a double and Taylor Satchell coming in to pinch hit and earning a triple. Kellsi Kloss and Shemiah Sanchez were the other two to earn RBIs.
Commanding the mound in her first start, Smith struck out eight in the complete game performance, allowing just one hit coming in the third inning, as after she did her team was already up four after the grand slam, allowing her to stay confident in the circle.
“It was awesome. It’s always nice when your offense is in it. It makes your job much easier,” Smith said. “It goes back to having your teammates behind you the whole time and having her hit that boosted everybody up.”
After a hitless inning and a half, LSU took to the bottom half of the second looking to get its offense going and got a walk from Bianka Bell to open the frame. Akiya Thymes came on to pinch run and immediately made an impact by going on to steal second base. A walk to Kloss put two on, as she and Thymes advanced to second and third after a wild pitch.
After an out was called at the plate, a walk to Sanchez loaded the bases and that would prove to be costly, as although there was no hit in the game up until that point, Kreamer would change all that with one swing, sending a shot to the Tiger Park Terrace in left center for the grand slam to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead.
After striking, LSU was set to pounce again in the third, as with an out both Sahvanna Jaquish and Bell were hit by pitches to put two on for the Tigers. Kloss drilled a deep single to center, as Jaquish rounded third and slid home before the tag to give LSU a 5-0 lead.
With Bell and Kloss now at second and third after the throw in, a pop up put LSU on the brink, but not before Sanchez singled to third allowing Bell to score to make it 6-0. The final run of the inning came in via error, as an errant throw on what should have been the third out went low allowing Kloss to score to make it 7-0 LSU.
In the very next inning, Landry opened with a ripped single up the middle, stealing second on the next play. With a favorable 2-0 count, Griggs stepped up and drilled a double into center, scoring Landry and making it 8-0 LSU. After consecutive outs, Satchell entered the game to pinch hit and made her only at-bat of the game count, producing a wall-banging triple to score Griggs and give LSU its final run of the night to make it 9-0.
The Tigers will be back in action on Sunday, taking on Connecticut and Pacific in day two of the Tiger Classic.