BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 8 LSU softball team fell on the wrong end of pitcher’s duel in suffering a 1-0 loss to the No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats Saturday afternoon at Tiger Park in the series opener for the two teams.
With a no-hitter through nearly seven complete innings, LSU (29-10, 5-8 Southeastern) was looking to get to just one more at-bat in the hopes of plating the go-ahead run, but was beaten to the punch by the Wildcats (32-8, 9-4) just before as the visitors broke it up in the top half of the final frame, earning their only run on their only hit of the contest.
“I think (Carley) did an incredible job, and we will take away some great things for her in the future,” head coach Beth Torina said. “I know that she did everything that we worked on in practice this week and as a coach that is all I can ask for.”
Carley Hoover (11-4) suffered the loss in the circle but stymied the Kentucky bats for much of the day, striking out 10 with three walks. She struck out the first batter in each of the first five innings, and at one point retired 12 straight batters from the end of the first until midway through the fifth, while also getting some key stops from the defense as well.
“Personally, I made some adjustments that coach and I worked on all week and it showed,” Hoover said. “Also, the defense just made some great plays today. I wasn’t frustrated at all. I think we did well and I think our bats will wake up tomorrow.”
The Tigers earned five hits on Saturday, paced by Kellsi Kloss who went 2-for-3 with a double. Bailey Landry had a triple for her only hit, while Sandra Simmons also had a double and Allie Walljasper coming in to pinch hit and earn a single.
“Carley threw well enough to win the ball game. Any time your pitcher only gives up one hit, you kind of expect that we’re going to win the ball game,” Kloss said. “I think we did a decent job of getting some people on base. It just comes down to the story of a few games in the past, just getting the runners over and doing our jobs. You have to give a lot of credit to Kelsey Nunley; she put every single pitch exactly where she wanted to put it and she obviously had a game plan for us. They did a really good job.”
LSU had opportunities to take control of the game, but ended the day stranding nine runners on base to Kentucky’s seven.
“It was a major factor in this game. We need to stay in the game and get that timely hit to win this game,” Sahvanna Jaquish said. “This is the SEC, so every time you come out here and can get hits and players on base, that is going to build your confidence leading to the next game. It is a marathon not a sprint.”
Kelsey Nunley (14-4) earned the win by striking out six and walking three, as Sylver Samuel had the hit and RBI to put the game away for Kentucky in the end.
Kloss lifted a double to right center for the game’s first hit to open the bottom of the second inning. A groundout advanced her to third with LSU looking to strike the first blow, but a strikeout and a slow dribbler to third ended the inning.
With an out in the bottom of the third, Simmons one-hopped a shot into left center for a ground-rule double to reach base. After a grounder kept the runner at bay, Bianka Bell drew a walk to put two on for the Tigers. Unfortunately, a fielder’s choice grounder ended the threat.
The fourth saw Kloss rip a single down the left field line to reach first. Akiya Thymes came on to pinch run, promptly stealing second base. She would move to third on an illegal pitch, but the team would not be able to find the hit to bring her in as the next round of batters went down in order after.
With a pair of outs in the bottom of the fifth, Landry laced a triple down the left field line for LSU, putting another runner just feet away from the plate, but LSU would not be able to bring her in as a fly out to center ended the frame.
After an out in foul territory to left in the top of the sixth, Kentucky finally was able to string something together as a walk and a hit batter put two on for the Wildcats. A fly out to right advanced the lead runner to third to put runners at the corners, and it nearly proved costly, but a diving stop by Simmons at first and put out kept the Wildcats off the board for the third out.
LSU nearly looked to scratch across the first run in a lengthy at-bat by Jaquish in the bottom of the sixth, hitting a sky-high shot to left but just barely staying in the park and dying at the warning track for the first out. LSU would get a runner on due to a fielding error, but that would be all for the LSU half of that inning.
The top of the seventh proved to be the breakthrough for the visitors, as after a failed bunt attempt for the first out, a hit batter and a walk put two on. However, a diving stop by Constance Quinn on a liner to spare a hit put two outs on the board. However, another hit batter loaded the bases when a single up the middle earned Kentucky’s only hit and run of the game to put the visitors up 1-0.
LSU had a chance in the final half inning, as after an out, Walljasper came on to pinch hit, and like she has been able to do lately, ripped a single up the middle to reach first. Emily Griggs came on to run in her place, and after a strikeout a walk to Landry put two on with two outs. Unfortunately, a 1-2 count left a small margin of error as the next pitch was a called third-strike to end the game.
First pitch for game two of the series is set for 6 pm. CT at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge. The game will be shown 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.