BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 15/16 LSU (38-14, 11-11 SEC) dropped game one of the series against No. 10/11 Georgia (39-10, 16-5 SEC), 3-1 Friday afternoon at Tiger Park despite out-hitting its opponent 8-5.
“I feel like we just hit a lot of things right at them,” said Head Coach Beth Torina. “We came up just short. The pitching staff did a good job holding them. Alea Johnson looked good, and Ali Newland had a really good day. There were a lot of positives to take into tomorrow.”
Freshman pitcher Sydney Berzon (13-7) was charged with the loss and threw five strikeouts while allowing three runs on four hits and three walks in 4.0 innings of work. Freshman pitcher Alea Johnson entered the circle in the fifth. She struck out one batter and allowed just one hit and no runs through 3.0 innings.
With Berzon’s third strikeout of the day, she passed Brittany Mack for the most strikeouts by a freshman (2009 – 110 strikeouts). Berzon now has 114 strikeouts this season and ranks No. 6 in program history for the most strikeouts by a freshman.
Junior catcher Ali Newland led the team in hits, going a perfect 3-for-3 from the dish with a double. Sophomore outfielder McKenzie Redoutey went 1-for-3 on the night with one RBI. Juniors Danieca Coffey, Ciara Briggs, and graduate designated player Georgia Clark all tacked on one hit.
Georgia’s junior pitcher Madison Kerpics (17-5) earned the win, throwing three strikeouts and allowing one run on eight hits in 6.2 innings. Graduate pitcher Shelby Walters earned her seventh save of the season with one strikeout.
Georgia found the run column in the third on a solo homer from senior infielder Sara Mosley. The Bulldogs followed with a two-run fourth frame, scoring on an RBI single and a sac fly to increase their lead to 3-0.
The Tigers got on the scoreboard in the sixth thanks to an RBI single from Redoutey. LSU threatened by putting a runner on with two outs in the seventh but could not cross another run.
On Deck
The Tigers will be back in action Saturday for game two of the series against Georgia at 3 p.m.
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