BATON ROUGE — Brinti Sneed won her school-record 26th game of the season as the top-seeded LSU softball team wore down Northwestern State, 7-1, in the nightcap here at Tiger Park in the NCAA Regional at Baton Rouge.
Sneed (26-6) pitched seven innings and allowed only one unearned run on three hits while striking out seven.
LSU improved to 57-11 with the victory while Northwestern State fell to 41-18 after losing to the Tigers for the third time this season.
Lady Demons starter Jessica Holaway went the entire six inning, giving up 13 LSU hits which led to seven runs. She fell to 16-8 on the season.
LSU took an early 2-0 lead on the Lady Demons in the bottom of the first as Dee Douglas walked, Stephanie Hastings doubled and Ashlee Ducote walked to load the bases. Dougles scored on a sacrifice fly by Ashley Lewis and Hastings scored on a bases-loaded hit by pitch on Shante’ Fremin.
After going quietly in the first and second innings against LSU starter Britni Sneed, Northwestern State got on the board for the first time in the third with an unearned run. Christina Edgar reached base after all five Tiger infielders allowed a pop fly on the back of the pitcher’s circle land. Ashlee Ducote was credited with the error for missing the grab. Edgar stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Linette Stuart.
The Tigers put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth as Ducote singled, advanced to second on a single by Trena Peel and both advanced a base on a double steal. Then, Jen Schuelke hit a two-RBI single to center to score both Ducote and Peel to give LSU a 4-1 lead.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers sealed the victory when Ashley Lewis singled up the middle to score Douglas and Tara Asbill, giving LSU a 6-1 lead. The two RBI gave Lewis three for the game and 28 on the season.
LSU will take on UL-Lafayette Friday at 4 p.m. while Northwestern faces Oregon at 1 p.m. in an elimination game.