BATON ROUGE, La. – After seeing her team plate the most runs in a game in her LSU tenure just an hour or so earlier, head coach Beth Torina was treated to another first as freshman pitcher Sydney Smith tossed the fourth perfect game in program history as the Tigers defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 8-0 in five innings Friday to cap a sweep of action on Friday at the LSU Invitational.
Pushing the team’s win to 12 in the process, Smith (4-0) struck out six and needed just 54 pitches over the course of the contest to become the first pitcher since Rachele Fico in 2011 to earn a perfect game, and just the third to do it individually. All four perfect games in program history have come in five innings, with Tiffany Garcia having one in 2006 and Britni Sneed and Sarah Meadors combining for the first in 2001.
“Honestly I didn’t even know until the end of the game. I was really just focused on hitting my spots, working with coach and knowing my team had my back,” Smith said.
In the second of another efficiently offensive display of the night, LSU (16-2) pumped out all eight runs on 13 hits, with five going for extra bases. Eight LSU players earned hits in the win, led by Emily Griggs who finished the contest going 3-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and run scored. Griggs also produced the game-winning hit to end the game in five via run-rule.
“I thought it was a great day. Honestly I thought it was some of our best softball we’ve played all year,” Torina said. “I think the offense was rolling with all of the runs scored and I also thought the defense was spectacular.”
Griggs was one of four Tigers to earn multiple hits, as Sahvanna Jaquish went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, followed by Constance Quinn who was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Amber Serrett was 2-for-3 in the game with a double and run scored, as she finished the overall day with five total hits.
“I think that we all complement each other really well. We all have different strengths and because of that it could be anyone’s day,” Jaquish said. “I think that’s very difficult for teams to adjust to. I feel our lineup covers a complete spectrum of hitting given the different types of pitchers we can see.”
Hannah Weaver (1-2) suffered the loss for Tennessee Tech, allowing all eight runs and 13 hits, walking three and striking out none.
Quinn earned a walk on five pitches to open the LSU first, with Griggs laying down a sacrifice bunt to advance her to second. After a grounder to third put two outs on the board, Jaquish doubled to left center to put the Tigers on the board 1-0.
In the very next frame, Landry singled to left, as after a fly out to right, Sydney Bourg tripled to right center while Sandra Simmons hit a shot to the Tiger eye in dead center to plate Bourg to make it 3-0. After advancing two bases after wild pitches, Quinn singled to the shortstop to score Simmons to make it 4-0, with Griggs earning a double to left center to put two on. Bianka Bell earned an infield single to plate a run to make it 5-0.
Griggs earned a one-out double to left to reach, moving to third after a wild pitch. After an infield pop-up, Jaquish singled to left field to put the Tigers up 6-0.
After a ground out, Serrett roped a double to left in the bottom of the fifth inning and advanced to third after an infield out. Simmons drew a walk to put runners at the corners, with Akiya Thymes coming on to pinch run. She stole second to put two in scoring position, as a Quinn single to the shortstop brought in Serrett to put LSU on the brink up 7-0.
After taking the first pitch, Griggs stepped back up to the plate and lifted one into left to drive in Thymes and end the game with an 8-0 win in favor of LSU.
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.