BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 8 LSU softball team plated a run in every inning but the first, while getting a shutout performance in the circle from sophomore Allie Walljasper as the Tigers defeated the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 5-0 Wednesday night at Tiger Park.
After being held off the board in the opening frame, the Tigers (29-9) turned in an efficient performance by plating a single run every inning after that and pumped out eight hits in the victory.
“Overall, I thought they did a good job. I liked how we swung the bats tonight,” head coach Beth Torina said. “I thought we hit things really hard, and I think it’s been a while since we’ve stepped up to the plate with that kind of confidence, swung well and just really hit things hard.”
Of LSU’s eight hits in the contest, five were for extra bases, getting doubles from Bianka Bell and Sandra Simmons, a triple from Kellsi Kloss, and a home run from Sahvanna Jaquish and Amber Serrett.
Jaquish reclaimed the team lead in homers, belting her 10th of the season, while Serrett led the night with two RBIs on her second of the year. Kloss earned her second career triple, while Bell knocked her team-leading eighth double while Simmons had her fourth.
Walljasper (6-4) tossed her second shutout of the year by scattering six hits, striking out four and walking two. It was her second consecutive seven-inning complete game performance in the circle, as she also had a hit at the plate as well.
“I was trying to hit my spots,” Walljasper said. “I knew that I had my team behind my back swinging the bats really well and I was just going out trust in each player and also my pitches.”
Southern Miss (18-21) stranded eight runners on base over the course of the game, as Morgan McKeever led the Golden Eagles with three hits.
Jillian Johnson (3-4) suffered the loss, allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout. Samantha Robles allowed four hits, giving up three runs, two earned, with two walks in relief.
Kloss got hit by a pitch to reach first, as after a strikeout and a lengthy at-bat, Walljasper dropped one down the right field line to push Kloss all the way to third on the single. Serrett hit a deep enough fly to right to score Kloss and put LSU up 1-0 on the sacrifice fly.
With an out in the top of the third, Bell crushed a double to the wall in right center to reach safely. She tagged up and moved to third on a fly ball out to right, having an easy trot in as Kloss tripled to right center to put the Tigers up 2-0.
With an out on the board in the bottom of the fourth, Serrett was down in the count, but didn’t miss the pitch she wanted, belting one over the fence in center to put LSU up 3-0.
“Just to see everyone hitting balls hard, even if it was straight to somebody it was good to see,” Serrett said.
After two quick outs in the bottom of the fifth, Jaquish took just one pitch before ripping on the second, sending a towering shot to the terrace in left center to give LSU a 4-0 lead over the Golden Eagles.
“I was seeing the ball well. We have been practicing seeing one pitch at a time and taking one at bat at a time,” Jaquish said.
Southern Miss put together its first serious threat in the top of the sixth inning, as a single put a runner on, but consecutive fielder’s choice at-bats put two outs on the board. However, a single and a walk loaded the bases for the Golden Eagles, only to end up with a pop up to Walljasper to end the inning without plating the run.
After two outs, Alayna Falcon came on to pinch hit and singled down the left field line. Akiya Thymes came on to pinch run, stealing second, and then stealing third, scoring on a throwing error from short to make it 5-0 for the final run of the game.
“It’s nice this week to have an extra day with the Saturday-Sunday-Monday series to gather ourselves, but I think last week without the midweek really helped us just get back to where we need to be,” Torina said.
LSU returns to SEC play this weekend, hosting the Kentucky Wildcats for a three-game series, beginning Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN.
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.