BATON ROUGE — A pair of RBI doubles by Erin Johnson led the fifth-ranked Tiger softball team in a come-from-behind effort past in-state rival Southeastern Louisiana, 4-3, at Tiger Park on Wednesday night.
With the win, LSU improves to 33-8 on the season and has now won 12 of its last 13 games, while Southeastern falls to 22-22 on the year. Sophomore Sarah Meadors earned the win to improve to 4-0 on the season and sophomore Kristin Schmidt earned her first save of the year.
“This was one of those games that falls between two big games for us,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “Southeastern came out and played well, but we came back and scored when we needed to and came away with the win. “We hit the ball hard at the end, but the ball just didn’t seem to get through very often and we are grateful to get a win.”
Girouard will battle her former school on Thursday as the Tigers host 19th-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette at 6:30 p.m. at Tiger Park. The head coach at ULL for 20 seasons before coming to LSU, the game will always hold a special significance for Girouard.
“This is an emotional week for me,” said Girouard. “It will always be weird to play them because you just don’t forget after being there for so long. I love LSU, but that program will always have a special place in my heart.”
The Tigers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Trena Peel led off the bottom of the first inning with her third home run of the season to deep centerfield. After being robbed of a home run in the first game against Alabama that went just foul and then having another ball miss being a home run by about a foot in the third game against Alabama, this ball was never in doubt as it left the park.
Not to be intimidated, Southeastern came back to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning. After Meadors allowed a leadoff walk to Michelle Roussel, she advanced to second on a passed ball.
After a Meadors strikeout, Roussel advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a Carrie Raleigh single to shortstop. Raleigh then stole second and advanced to second on a Sarah Gascon infield single.
After another Meadors strikeout, Heather Dye singled to left field to score Raleigh from third. A double down the left field line by Brooke Kostic scored Gascon from second.
The Tigers came back to tie the game in the bottom of the third. With two outs, April Janzen reached on an error by the third baseman and advanced to second. Christy Connor then doubled to left centerfield to score Janzen.
Erin Johnson followed with a double down the left field line to score Connor.
LSU got the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth. Janzen drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a groundout by Connor. Johnson then knocked her second double of the game down the right field line to score Janzen and give the Tigers the lead for good.
Schmidt came on to replace Meadors in the top of the sixth. After allowing a leadoff base hit, she did not allow another runner to reach base, retiring the final six batters of the game in order.