BATON ROUGE, La. – Fighting through a bit a bad weather, the No. 4 LSU softball team came back to tie the game at 3-3 four innings in, but would be undone late in falling to the Alabama Crimson Tide 10-3 Saturday evening at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge.
After seeing the visitors score three runs in the first two innings, LSU (22-3, 1-1 Southeastern) got some life back in the fourth and got two hits before sitting through a 31-minute weather delay, tying the game with one swing of the bat. However those runs would be the only ones for the team in the contest as Alabama (22-3, 1-1) put up five in the next frame and capitalized on six LSU errors over the course of the game to pull ahead.
“It’s one of those things that I think we just have to move on and get over it. I don’t think there’s a fix for all the things that happened tonight except we’ve just got to chalk it up to a bad day and move on,” head coach Beth Torina said. “We don’t have a day to practice and we don’t have a day to work on things so at this point we just have to try and get back to our mentality of playing good softball.”
LSU earned six hits, led by Emily Griggs who went 2-for04 with a run scored. Sahvanna Jaquish hit the three-run shot to tie the game, her ninth long ball of the season, with a run scored, while Bailey Landry had a double.
Allie Walljasper earned the start, allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits with a walk, being relieved for Sydney Smith (5-1) who wound up with the loss after coming on in relief and giving up four hits with two strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched, as the five runs scored during her time in the circle were unearned. Carley Hoover pitched the final 2.1 innings and allowed two runs on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk.
“Things are going to happen and things aren’t going to go our way, but the one thing we didn’t do was get frustrated,” Smith said. “We chipped away and worked pitch to pitch but things just aren’t always going to go our way.”
Alabama’s Sydney Littlejohn (9-2) earned the win by going the distance and striking out two with four walks. She was aided by a Crimson Tide offense that finished the game with 12 hits, as Haylie McCleney had three and Marisa Runyon had two.
Alabama was able to strike first as a double to open the game put a Crimson Tide runner on. An infield single put runners at the corners, before a pop up to short put an out on the board. The run scored as a LSU tried to put out the batter at first with an error resulting in keeping two on base for the visitors. The Tigers would be able to get the next two outs in order to get out of the frame.
After getting the first out of the second, three consecutive hits gave Alabama another run and put the Crimson Tide up 2-0. A walk to load the bases put pressure on LSU to try and close out the frame and they nearly did getting a force out at home on a fielder’s choice, but an errant throw to try and get the double play allowed an unearned run to cross to make it 3-0 before the Tigers could get the final out of the inning.
LSU finally got the bats going in the bottom of the fourth, getting a leadoff single from Griggs through the left side, before Bianka Bell followed with one down the left field line before the rain halted play. After play resumed, Jaquish went to a full count before drilling one to left center, clearing the fence for the game-tying homer.
Alabama stormed back and scored five runs in the top of the fifth, using three hits and four Tiger errors to go up 8-3.
Sandra Simmons singled through the middle to open the bottom half of the inning, as Constance Quinn drew a walk to put two on for LSU. After a diving catch in foul territory for the first out, a fielder’s choice forced out the lead runner at third, but not before getting another walk to load the bases. Unfortunately, a grounder to second ended the frame without LSU being able to cut into the deficit.
A two-run home run for Alabama in the top of the sixth gave the visitors a 10-3 over LSU.
Quinn drew a walk to open the final frame, as Griggs earned a single to right center to put two on. After a fly ball out to second, an infield grounder advanced the runners to second and third. The final batter struck out to end the game.
The third game of the series is set for a 2 p.m. first pitch on Sunday afternoon at Tiger Park. The game will be televised live on the SEC Network.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball along with @lsusoftball and @BethTorina on Twitter and @lsusb on Instagram.