THIBODAUX, La. — Britni Sneed threw her second one hitter in as many appearances to lead LSU to a 7-0 victory over Nicholls State on Tuesday night at the Lady Colonel Diamond.
With the win, their third straight, the Tigers move to 15-5, while Nicholls State falls to 5-10. Sneed struck out 11 Lady Colonels and walked just one to improve to 6-4. Nicole Wagner took the loss falling to 3-5.
“I’m obviously pleased to get a win,” said LSU coach Yvette Girouard. “I thought this was a good game to keep our focus as we turn our attention to Florida and SEC play.”
The Tigers open up Southeastern Conference action on Saturday against the Gators at 11 a.m. at Tiger Park. Saturday will feature a doubleheader to be followed by an 11 a.m. game on Sunday.
Sneed, who carried a no-hitter into the sixth, before Sarah Eads broke it up with an infield single, pitched her seventh complete game and fourth shutout of the season. She has thrown a shutout in each of her last three starts.
“I wanted to give Britni this game to kind of get her settled down before the conference,” said Girouard. “She looked really good tonight.”
LSU scored its seven runs on seven hits as the Tiger bats performed in spurts, posting a two-run first and a four-run fifth.
“We aren’t playing to our potential all of the time,” said Girouard. “Tonight, I thought we did well at times, but not for all seven innings.”
LSU opened the scoring in the top of the first when Trena Peel drew a lead-off walk and scored on April Janzen’s triple, which was her first of the season. Jansen later scored when catcher Eads couldn’t handle the throw home on Julie Weese’s fly ball to right field.
After a scoreless second, the Tigers struck in the third with an unearned run by Peel. After drawing a one-out walk, she stole second and advanced to third by an errant third by Eads. She then scored on Weese’s single up the middle to make it 3-0.
The Tigers looked to run rule the Lady Colonels with a big fifth inning, but only extended the lead to 7-0. Jennie Reeves opened the frame with a walk and back-to-back singles by Alishia Perry and Peel loaded the bases.
With no outs, Janzen and Weese each reached on fielder’s choices where the lead runner was thrown out at home. An error on third baseman Shauna Emola allowed Christy Connor to reach and Peel to score. Tessa Lynam then provided the big blow with a two-out double which scored three.
Nicholls State’s best scoring threat came in the fourth inning when Kyna Boyer opened the inning with a walk. She stole second and moved to third on Lori Duplechain’s hard grounder to shortstop Blair Smith.
After diving to bat down the ball, Smith made a spectacular play to get Duplechain just before she reached base, preserving the no-hitter. Julie Rodriguez then struck out to end the inning.