OXFORD, Miss. — A pair of shutout victories by All-American pitchers Britni Sneed and Kristin Schmidt led the third-ranked Tiger softball team past the Ole Miss Rebels, 1-0 and 4-0, on Saturday evening at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.
The Tigers improve to 44-8 overall and 22-3 in the Southeastern Conference, extending their season-best winning streak to 14 games. LSU has now won 24 of its last 25 games, while Ole Miss falls to 25-25 overall and 7-19 in the SEC.
The pair will play the final game of the series on Sunday at noon. The time was moved up one hour and the game can be heard on the radio in Baton Rouge on 107.3 FM.
“Once again we had to rely on our pitching and our pitchers came through for us,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We are still having trouble putting runs on the board, but luckily for us Britni and Kristin came up with wonderful efforts in the circle and we were able to come away with a pair of big wins.”
With the two victories, coupled with a two-game split by Alabama, LSU moves to one and a half games ahead of the Crimson Tide in the SEC Western Division with four games remaining.
In the first game, Sneed threw her 17th complete-game shutout of the season, breaking her school record, to improve her record to 24-5 on the year. In addition, she struck out 13 Rebels to improve her career total to 1,235, moving her into sixth place in NCAA history.
The senior from Houston allowed only two bloop singles in the game and no runner advanced past first base. In her past five outings, Sneed has thrown two no-hitters and allowed a total of seven hits.
The Tigers opportunities to put runs on the board in several innings, as LSU had runners on base with no outs in three separate innings, but converted only once.
Trena Peel led off the game with a double, but was caught in a rundown between second and third trying to stretch the double into a triple. April Janzen then followed with a single and stole second, but a foul out and a ground out ended the threat.
Tessa Lynam led off the second inning with a single, but back-to-back fielder’s choices and a groundout ended the inning.
Ole Miss got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the second inning.
With two outs, Jessica Hamilton hit a little infield pop that Tiger shortstop Blair Smith dove for, but came up just short. Megan Kozar popped up to Julie Wiese at third to end the inning.
The Tigers finally broke through with a run in the top of the fifth inning.
After a leadoff walk was issued to Megann Steege, Blair Smith singled back to the pitcher and Smith advanced to second.
Leigh Ann Danos, pinch-hitting for Jennie Reeves, singled through the left side to score Steege from second and give the Tigers the 1-0 lead as Smith advanced to third and Danos advanced to second on the throw.
After Reeves reentered for Danos, Peel grounded out to the first baseman, before Janzen drew a walk to load the bases. Unfortunately, the Tigers could not put another run across as Christy Connor popped up the shortstop deep in the hole and Smith was picked off at third to end the inning.
The Rebels got their only other hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. Phyllis Manley led off the inning with a little bloop single over first base that Janzen dove for and just missed.
After Britte Hardy hit into a fielder’s choice, the Tigers got out of the inning with a double play as Brooke Turner struck out swinging and Turner was thrown out trying to steal second.
Kristin Schmidt was one hit away from a perfect game in game two, picking up the win to improve to 16-3 on the year. The sophomore from Houston threw her eighth complete-game shutout of the season and tied her season high with 14 strikeouts.
The Tigers had their opportunities in the second game but failed to convert until the end. In the top of the first inning, Peel led off with a single.
After stealing second, she advanced to third on a fielder’s choice by Janzen as the Rebels failed to get the out.
With runners at first and third, Janzen stole second, LSU could not convert as Connor fouled out to right field, Johnson struck out swinging and Lynam grounded out to the third baseman to end the inning.
Ole Miss got its first runner in scoring position on the day in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, Andrea Brahs tripled to right field, but Schmidt got DeDe Justice to pop out to end the inning.
With one out in the top of the fourth, Lynam singled up the middle. She advanced to second on an error by the second baseman on a fielder’s choice by Danos. With runners on first and second, Wiese flew out to centerfield and Steege struck out looking to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth inning, Connor led off the inning with her team leading 15th double of the season to right centerfield. After Fitzgerald came in to pinch run for Connor, Johnson flew our to the centerfielder. Lynam then fouled out to the third baseman.
The Rebels intentionally walked Danos to put runners at first and second with two outs. Wiese then grounded out to the third baseman to end the inning.
LSU broke it open in the top of the seventh with four runs. Steege led off the inning with a single up the middle. Smith reached on a fielder’s choice as Steege was thrown out at second.
Peel then nailed a double to right field and advanced to third on an error by Justice as Smith came around to score. A single by Janzen up the middle scored Peel from third before Connor nailed her seventh home run of the season down the right field line to give the Tigers the 4-0 lead.
Schmidt struck out the side to end the game and preserve the LSU victory.