LSU Gold

Softball Downs Samford, 4-0

by Lacey Dodson | Communications Student
Final Box Score +0
Softball Downs Samford, 4-0

BATON ROUGE – The No. 7 LSU softball team defeated Samford 4-0 Friday evening in a Valentine’s Day face-off in Tiger Park. The Tigers move to 6-0 on the season while Samford falls to 3-3 on the year.

The Samford Bulldogs threatened in the top of the third and put a runner on first, but Taylor Pleasants came through with a clutch double play to end the inning and gain momentum for the Tigers.

In the bottom of the third, Taylor Tidwell singled down the left field line which gave the Tigers their first hit of the night. Aliyah Andrews came up big with a double to the left-center gap to score Tidwell from second. Savannah Stewart recorded an RBI on a sacrifice fly, plating Ciara Briggs from third.

Morgan Cummins blasted her first career homerun deep to right-center in the bottom of the sixth to increase the lead. Tidwell followed Cummins lead and took her first career homerun over the right field fence to extend the lead to 4-0.  

Ali Kilponen retired seven straight Bulldogs through the first four innings and tallied six strikeouts on the night.  She is now 2-0 on the season. Taylor DeCelles took the loss for the Bulldogs and moved to 1-1 on the season.

Game Notes

  • Beth Torina is now five wins away from 500 in her career.
  • Ali Kilponen retired seven straight Bulldogs in the first four innings and tallied six strikeouts on the night.
  • Cummins and Tidwell recorded back-to-back first career homeruns; last time the Tigers had back-to-back homeruns in the same inning was 4/14/19 against Kentucky.
  • Ciara Briggs went 3-for-3 on the night.

Torina’s Thoughts

Tonight’s overall thoughts…

“I thought our team did a good job. I liked that they continued to score throughout. Scoring first was great. We went a little quiet but I liked that we continued to score and have that answer there late. That was a big difference maker in the game and then Ali Kilponen had another good night for us.”

On the bottom third of the order producing six hits…

“They did a good job. It was nice seeing Morgan (Cummins) and (Taylor) Tidwell swing that way. Ciara (Briggs) just continued to battle for us, had some really great at-bats, so I was happy with that.”

Up Next

The Tigers travel to Lafayette on Saturday to face ULL at 4 p.m. The game will air on CST and stream live on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available. They’ll finish the weekend at home on Sunday taking on North Dakota at 12:30 p.m. and matching up again with ULL at 3 p.m. These games can be streamed on SEC Network+ and WatchESPN.