BATON ROUGE, La. – Fighting through a two-plus hour rain delay, the No. 14 LSU softball team scored all its runs over the course of the final four innings to claim a 6-1 win over the Northwestern State Lady Demons Wednesday night at Tiger Park.
After getting through the first two innings, a two-hour, 17 minute weather delay pushed the restart of the game well past 9 p.m., but the lengthy break proved to aid the Tiger (33-13) offense, scoring three runs in the third, another run in the fourth and two more in the sixth to pull out ahead and stay ahead for the rest of the contest.
“I think that our team plays best when they are loose so it is nice to see them stay loose today,” head coach Beth Torina said. “I made sure that they understood the importance of the game. Trying to go out and get a win against a quality opponent, and I think they answered that call.”
LSU produced seven hits in the game, paced by junior Sahvanna Jaquish who went 2-for 3 with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored. It was Jaquish’s 11th long ball of the season, as she drove in at least four runs in a game for the second time on the year.
“At the beginning it is frustrating, but I’m happy that we had that rain break actually, because it loosened us up and it just got us into the moment and we produced runs after that,” Jaquish said.
Sophomore Emily Griggs went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, earning her 13th multiple hit game of the year to tie for the team high. The Wichita, Kansas, native has earned at least two hits in each of the last three games and is on a five-game hitting streak going into the weekend.
In the circle, Allie Walljasper (7-5) was efficient, earning a complete-game win by scattering three Lady Demon (24-19) hits in seven innings, striking out seven and walking one with one run allowed. Walljasper needed just 95 pitches to work through the NSU order, lowering her season ERA to 1.67 in the process.
Northwestern State’s Shelby Sells (9-10) suffered the loss as she allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits in four innings, walking seven and striking out one. NSU had three errors defensively, as Kellye Kincannon provided the only run on a solo home run late in the game.
After the delay, LSU took to the bottom of the third and Griggs reached on an error at first base. A walk to Bianka Bell put two on, as Jaquish brought everyone in on a bomb to center for the three-run shot to put the Tigers up 3-0.
A leadoff walk to Amber Serrett opened the bottom of the fourth, as she moved to second after an infield grounder to the circle. Sandra Simmons came through and laced a double down the right field line to easily plate Serrett from second to give LSU a 4-0 lead. A pair of walks around another out loaded the bases for the Tigers, but a foul out ended the inning with the bases loaded.
Northwestern State was able to pull a run back in the top of the sixth inning, getting a home run with two outs on the board to cut LSU’s lead to 4-1.
With an out in the bottom of the sixth, Griggs doubled to right center to reach, as Jaquish ripped a shot to center scoring the LSU outfielder to make it a 5-1 game, as Jaquish advanced to third after an error in center on the same play. Kellsi Kloss ripped a double of her own down the left field line to plate Jaquish and put LSU up 6-1 for the final run of the contest.
“I think we have a little bit more trust in ourselves. So I think being able to go out with a little bit more confidence and our chins a little bit higher I think helped us,” Griggs said. “We had a game on Friday that didn’t go so well and then we just picked ourselves up and I think that’s what we have to do for the rest of the season, is just pick ourselves up and keep going and focus on the theme, which is ‘the next.’”
LSU returns to action this weekend, hosting a three-game SEC series against the South Carolina Gamecocks beginning Friday at 6 p.m. at Tiger Park.
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.