BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 7 LSU softball team returned home to open a four-game home stand and got a seven-inning complete game one-hitter from freshman Sydney Smith as the Tigers defeated the Nicholls Colonels 2-0 Tuesday night in Tiger Park.
Smith (7-1) earned the win as she retired 15 consecutive batters from the second inning until the seventh, when a slow dribbler that went just feet away from the plate danced down the third base line and stayed fair as the runner made it to first safely with two outs on the board. She was able to get the next batter to strike out to secure the victory as she ended the night with four strikeouts and two walks in the seven-inning affair.
“Since the innings were going by so fast I had an idea, but I try not to think about that and just think about going get the next out,” Smith said.
LSU (26-5) got all the runs in needed in the first two innings of the contest, scoring a single run in the first and second, proving to be enough for Smith and the defense in the end. Bailey Landry went 2-for-3 in the contest with a triple, RBI and run scored, while Amber Serrett was 2-for-2 with a run scored, as both accounted for all four hits for the team against the Colonels (16-12).
“I think that Bailey has been swinging well lately, and she was supposed to be there all year in my head,” head coach Beth Torina said. “She began with the slow start but has come on a little bit more lately. I thought that it was the right day to try it, and at the end that was a good choice.”
Nicholls’ Hannah Haydel (8-6) suffered the loss as she allowed two runs, one earned, with five strikeouts and two walks on 103 pitches. Jessica Taylor had the lone hit for the Colonels in the top of the seventh.
Landry led off the game with a roped triple to left center to open up the Tiger first. An error by Nicholls at second base on an Emily Griggs infield chopper allowed Landry to score to put LSU up 1-0 over the Colonels.
After getting the first two outs of the second a walk put a Nicholls runner on, as an error pushed the runner to third and put two on for the visitors. Fortunately, Serrett nabbed a grounder at short and made the throw in to end the inning with LSU still on top.
With two outs already on the board for LSU, Serrett ripped a single to third to reach first, as Sandra Simmons drew a walk to put two on for the Tigers. Landry stepped up to the plate and chopped a single through the middle of the infield to score Serrett to give the home side a 2-0 lead.
“I think tonight we were having trouble seeing the ball. But I think we will fix that through practice this week,” Serrett said. “I think (Haydel) did really well working both halves of the plates and also keeping us a little off balance. So it was hard for us to pick a side and sticking to that.”
It was tough sledding for the Colonels from that point, as Nicholls went down in order from the third through the sixth, as Smith was looking to add to her resume that also boasts a perfect game which came earlier this season. The LSU defense stood firm for the rest of the game, helping lower her season ERA to 0.60 as she earned her seventh win of the season and fifth shutout of the year in the process.
“Trusting in the process and the plan, and also trusting that my defense had my back tonight was huge,” Smith said. “Just knowing that no matter where I put the ball, we were going to get outs.”
LSU returns to league action this weekend, hosting the top-ranked Florida Gators for a three-game SEC series in Baton Rouge.
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.