OXFORD, Miss. — LSU first baseman Shaunte’ Fremin’s eighth inning home run and Britni Sneed’s first college no-hitter propelled the ninth ranked LSU softball team to a double header sweep of Ole Miss here Friday night.
The Tigers won game one 5-3 and took game two 3-0. The two teams meet again Saturday in another double header at 1 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network (107.3 FM in Baton Rouge).
The Tigers improve to 29-7 overall and 7-1 in the Southeastern Conference. Ole Miss fell to 17-24 overall and 4-6 in the SEC.
“The girls stayed patient again and it paid off,” said head coach Glenn Moore. “There are a few areas that we still have to improve on, but that is the way the SEC is going with a dog-fight every time you step on the field where you have to hope to step out on top. We were fortunate enough to have great pitching from both our pitchers and our hitters came through when needed this evening to help us come out on top.”
In the top of the first, shortstop Tara Asbill hit a two run home run to left field to put the Tigers up 2-0 over the Rebels. Asbill now has six home runs for the season and 21 for the season.
The Rebels put a runner on base when right fielder Heather Swinney singled to left field to start the bottom half of the second inning. Pitcher Ashley Lewis then walked third baseman Kaci Coffee to place runners on first and second with no outs. Left fielder Jessica Hamilton then singled to left center to load the bases for the Rebels. Ole Miss managed to score Swinney and Coffee on a failed pick-off attempt at third base by the Tigers to tie the score at 2-2.
In the bottom of the third, second baseman Amanda Lehotak singled to left field to start the inning. Shortstop Mandy Shklar then tripled to right field, and the Tigers put Lehotak out at the plate. Shklar then scored when Swinney reached first on an error by Asbill.
Going into the top of the fourth, third baseman Ashlee Ducote was hit by a pitch to get on first, and advanced to second on sacrifice bunt by center fielder Stacey Newton. Ducote made it to third on a passed ball and later scored when pitcher Holly Burris hit catcher Jennifer Schuelke with the bases loaded to tie the score at 3-3.
The game remained tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh and was sent into extra innings. In the top of the eight, first baseman Shaunte’ Fremin launched a two run home run over the left field fence to seal the victory for LSU ahead 5-3.
The Tiger bats combined for eight hits off Burris.
Lewis went eight innings for the Tigers only giving up five hits and retiring 10 batters at the plate. With the 10 strikeouts, Lewis matched her personal single game record she set last year against Ole Miss on April 2.
In the fourth inning of the nightcap, designated hitter Lewis doubled to right center to send home Asbill to score the first run of the game.
During the top of the sixth, Asbill walked to get on base, and Newton then singled. The Rebels kept them on base, however, not allowing any runs for the inning.
In the Ole Miss half of the sixth, the Rebels put there first runner on base when center fielder Jamie Cummings reach first on a throwing error by Ducote but could not send her home as the Tigers retired the inning.
In the seventh, Fremin hit her second home run of the evening to put the Tigers up 2-0. The homer was her third of the season. Right fielder Trena Peel then singled and scored on a ground out by second baseman Stephanie Hastings. The Tigers would win 3-0.
Pitcher Britni Sneed improved her record to 11-5 with her first career no hitter, striking out 12 Rebel batters. In the second and fifth innings pitcher Britni Sneed retired the Rebel batters with three strikeouts.