BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 14/15 LSU’s offensive explosion led to an 11-0 run-rule shutout against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Friday at Tiger Park. The offense scored at least one run in every inning while putting up their fourth game with 11 or more runs this season.
LSU (13-0) registered its fifth run-rule this season and improves to 4-0 all-time against A&M-Corpus Christi (7-3).
“I loved tonight,” said Head Coach Beth Torina. “It checked a lot of boxes for us. Some things we needed to happen we were able to have happen. Got some people in we needed to get in and saw some good results from them.”
Pitcher Alea Johnson (3-0) earned the win after logging five strikeouts, three hits, one walk and no runs in 4.0 innings. Pitcher Emma Strood closed out the game by retiring three of the last four batters and tallied one strikeout. Johnson and Strood combined to toss the Tigers fifth shutout of the season.
A&M-Corpus Christi’s Primrose Aholelei was charged with the loss after 2.0 innings where she struck out one batter and gave up six hits, three runs, and one walk against 12 faced batters.
Infielder Georgia Clark highlighted the offensive explosion going 2-for-2 from the dish with three RBIs thanks to a three-run home run – her third of the season. Left fielder Savannah Stewart also had three-RBIs on the night coming off her first career home run in the bottom of the third.
“She slapped it out,” said Torina. “I’ve seen her hit some home runs in the recruiting process. She’s been seeing it well. She looks good and she’s such a competitor. That was awesome for her. I teared up, I really did. I felt so emotional about it, just thinking of what she means to us. It was a really cool moment.”
Third baseman Danieca Coffey had a perfect night at the plate, going 3-for-3, marking her second consecutive game with three hits this season. Shortstop Taylor Pleasants tallied her eighth game with multiple RBIs this season, totaling two RBIs and two runs scored.
The Tigers started the night with four straight hits. Coffey and Briggs had a pair of singles and stolen bases to bring up Pleasants with runners on second and third. Pleasants hit a bloop single to center field that scored both runners. Two batters later, second baseman Karli Petty hit a sac fly to deep center field to give LSU an early 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning.
After reaching on an error in the second stanza, Stewart made her way to third base before scoring the Tigers’ fourth run on a wild pitch. With runners on first and second, Clark hit her third dinger of the season to left field to increase LSU’s lead, 7-0.
The runs kept coming for the Tigers in the third frame as freshman outfielder Maia Townsend recorded her first career hit to lead off the inning. Freshman infielder McKaela Walker wore a pitch to put two runners on with one out. Stewart came to the plate and crushed her first career home run to left field, tacking on three additional runs.
Outfielder Madilyn Giglio recorded a leadoff single in the fourth inning for her first career hit. After getting in scoring position thanks to a wild pitch, Giglio showcased excellent base-running skills and scored on an RBI single by catcher Ali Newland to increase the lead, 11-0.
Strood closed out the game in the top of the fifth, retiring three of the four batters she faced beginning with her first career strikeout and secured the run-rule victory for LSU.
On Deck
The Tigers will be back in action with a double-header Saturday, February 25 facing off against UL-Lafayette at 2:30 p.m. and Texas A&M Corpus-Christi at 5 p.m.
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