BATON ROUGE — All-American Britni Sneed capped off Senior Day with her sixth no-hitter of the year as the third-ranked Tiger softball team closed out the regular season with a doubleheader sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 11-0 and 7-2, on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Park.
Senior April Janzen concluded her final regular-season series at Tiger Park with a 5-for-7 performance with two RBIs and her first home run of the season in her final at-bat of the day. Freshman Tessa Lynam also went 4-for-7 with four RBIs and nailed a pair of home runs as the Tigers improved to 49-9 on the season. The Islanders fell to 35-30 on the year.
“I was really pleased with the way we hit the ball today,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “I was glad to see our seniors go out with big wins in their last regular-season games at Tiger Park.
“We have had a problem all season getting the timely hits and putting the runs on the board, but we did a good job pushing the runs across the plate today. We will need to continue to do that as we head into the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament over the next few weeks.”
LSU will now travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., to defend its SEC Tournament title next week, beginning with a first round game on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT. The Tigers earned the top seed in the tournament after clinching their fourth-straight SEC Championship with a win over Auburn on Thursday.
Prior to the start of the first game, LSU honored the five Tiger seniors, Sneed, Janzen, Aleshia Perry, Erin Johnson and Trena Peel. Although Perry could not play due to injury, Johnson, Peel and Janzen went out in style, combining to go 10-for-18 from the plate with four RBIs and eight runs scored.
Sneed recorded her 10th career complete-game no-no and was a third-inning walk away from a perfect game. She improved her record to 28-6 on the season as she threw her 21st shutout of the year. The senior from Houston also struck out 11 batters to move into fifth place on the NCAA career strikeout list.
“Britni really didnt have her best stuff today, but to come out here and be one walk away from a perfect game speaks to the kind of pitcher she is,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard.
LSU jumped all over the Islanders in the first game. A sacrifice fly by Christy Connor in the first inning scored Janzen, who had reached on an infield single.
Johnson led off with a single to right centerfield to start the second inning. With one out, Megann Steege singled down the right field line to push Johnson to second. A walk by Jennie Reeves loaded the bases.
With two outs, Peel knocked in Johnson and Steege on a single that sent Reeves to third. Reeves then scored on a wild pitch.
LSU exploded for four runs in the bottom of the third. With one out, Lynam singled down the left field line. Back-to-back doubles by Johnson and Julie Wiese scored two runs.
Megann Steege then singled and advanced to third on an error by the rightfielder as Wiese scored. A groundout by Reeves scored Steege to put the Tigers up 8-0.
Janzen singled to lead off the fourth inning, then advanced to second on a Connor fly out. Lynam then blasted her first homer of the day over the left field fence.
After the Islanders changed pitchers for the third time in the game, Johnson reached on a walk then advanced to second as Julie Wiese reached on an error by the shortstop. A single by Megann Steege loaded the bases before Jessica Braggins hit a sacrifice fly to score Johnson.
Sneed got a pair of strikeouts and a foul out in the top of the fifth as LSU earned the five-inning complete-game win by way of the eight-run rule.
In the second game, sophomore Sarah Meadors got the win to improve to 5-0 on the season with her first complete-game outing of the year. She allowed two runs on five hits and struck out two without a walk.
The Tigers continued to put up impressive numbers from the plate as they once again jumped out early on the Islanders, putting two on the board in the bottom of the first. Peel led off with a single before stealing second. She then scored on a Janzen single.
After Janzen stole second, she scored as Lynam reached on an error by the third baseman.
After failing to get a run in the second inning, the Tigers bounced back to get one in the third as Lynam rocketed her second home run of the day to deep centerfield.
LSU got a three-run fifth, aided by an error by the Islanders centerfielder. With one out, Janzen singled to third base. After advancing to second on a wild pitch, she moved to third on a ground out. A single by Lynam scored her from third.
Johnson then reached on the error by Shelley Oetken in centerfield on a dropped fly ball that should have gotten Corpus Christi out of the inning. Lynam and Johnson then advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and scored as Leigh Ann Danos singled through the left side.
The Tigers closed out their scoring in the bottom of the sixth as Janzen nailed her first home run of the season over the left field fence in her last regular season at-bat at Tiger Park.
The Islanders broke up the shutout in the top of the seventh. Back-to-back doubles by Rachel Mendez and Shelley Oetken to lead off the inning gave TAMCC its first run. A Megan Rathkamp single then scored Oetken from second to end the scoring for the Islanders as LSU went on to close out the inning and the game.