BATON ROUGE — Outstanding performances by junior Britni Sneed and Christy Connor helped lift the sixth ranked LSU Tiger softball team to a doubleheader upset of the third ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, 1-0 and 3-1.
“Wow!” said head coach Yvette Girouard. “This was a gusty performance by
Britni, and a lot of people came to play today. There could not have been a crazier doubleheader to be more involved in. We swept them. This was the real Tiger team.”
LSU improves to 34-7 overall and 14-3 in the SEC. Alabama falls to 34-3 overall and 14-3 in the SEC. The two teams are tied for first in the conference.
The Tigers and the Tide will play game three of the SEC series at 1 p.m. on Sunday in Tiger Park. The game will be carried live by Fox Sports South on channel 26.
Game one was a classic pitching duel between Sneed and Tide pitcher Shelley Laird. Sneed sat down nine Alabama batters while Laird K’d eight Tigers. Both pitchers walked four, but two of Sneed’s were intentional.
Sneed emerged the victor of the battle to improve her record to 21-4 on the season and 11-0 in the SEC. Sneed allowed only one hit as she hurled her 10th shutout of the year to tie former-Tiger Brandi Landry for most shutouts in a season.
The Tigers scored the only run of the game in the sixth inning. Dee Douglas led the Tigers off with a single to left field and advanced to second on a sacrifice by April Janzen. After Stephanie Hastings drew a walk, sophomore Christy Connor doubled to left field to send Douglas home.
Alabama pulled ahead first in game two when Jackie McClain doubled to right field, and Lindsay Testa singled to send home pinch runner Christi Traywick.
LSU would answer back in the bottom of the inning with a two run home run to pull ahead. April Janzen doubled to right field, and Connor once again came through for the Tigers with her third home run of the season to put LSU up 2-1.
Hastings scored on a passed ball by catcher Lacy Prejean with bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth to add an insurance run for the Tigers.
Senior Ashley Lewis moved her record to 11-3 for the season, going five innings in the win. She allowed six hits, one run and struck out two. Sneed relieved her in the sixth inning to pick up her second save of the season. She allowed only one hit and struck out five in two innings of work.
The Tigers had eight hits off pitchers Erin Wright and Laird. Janzen was two for three with two doubles, and Connor was one for two with a home run.
LSU travels to Starkville on Wednesday for a three game series with Mississippi State before heading back to Louisiana for an in-state rival game with Girouard’s alma mater Louisiana-Lafayette.