By Tiger Rag News Services
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU’s Carley Hoover flirted with her second no-hitter of the week as she held the Central Arkansas Bears to just a single hit as the Tigers defeated the Bears 2-0 to seal a clean sweep for the squad in the Purple & Gold Challenge.
The Tigers (9-1), scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning and Hoover did the rest, earning her third double-digit strikeout performance of the season and second of the week as she fanned 10 Central Arkansas (2-8) batters over the course of the seven-inning affair. Hoover only walked one, as a pair of LSU errors, a passed ball on a strikeout and fielder’s choice were the only ways a UCA runner got on base in the contest.
Four different LSU players accounted for the team’s five hits in the victory, as Shemiah Sanchez was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Amber Serrett roped a double and scored a run, while Emily Griggs and Bailey Landry were both productive with an RBI each.
The Game Turned When…
Shemiah Sanchez earned an infield single and Amber Serrett got plunked by a pitch to put two LSU runners on in the second. After a strikeout and an infield grounder to advance the runners, Emily Griggs singled to score Sanchez and Bailey Landry followed suit to bring in Serrett and plate LSU’s only two runs of the game.
Top Performers
Carley Hoover: 7.0 IP, one hit, 10 K’s, one walk
Shemiah Sanchez: 2-3, run scored
Amber Serrett: 1-2, double, run scored
Emily Griggs: 1-3, RBI
Bailey Landry: 1-3, RBI
Quotables
Head Coach Beth Torina on Carley Hoover’s performance…
“She was great. She was dominant. I was really happy we had her on the mound, especially with the way their kid threw. The way our offense performed today, we’re lucky that we had her throwing such a great game on the mound for us.”
Carley Hoover on throwing a no-hitter and one-hitter in the same week…
“I think Sahvanna (Jaquish) and I worked really well together and I think the first play of the game Aliyah (Andrews) laid out and made an amazing play. One-hitters come with good pitch calls and great defense and I think we had that today.”
Game One: LSU 7, Georgia Southern 4
A see-saw affair after two innings that saw each team take the lead before a tie score in the second, the No. 7 LSU softball team got three big runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good and hold off the Georgia Southern Eagles to earn a 7-4 win on the final day of the Purple & Gold Challenge.
After scoring two runs in the opening frame, Georgia Southern came back to score four in the top of the second to storm back. A pair of runs by Tigers (8-1) in the bottom of the same inning knotted the contest at four leaving the game open to the first team who could strike first. LSU would be the one to strike in the fourth as the squad produced five of their 12 total hits in the game to plate three and take a lead it would not relinquish.
While the offense was solid producing seven runs on 12 hits, it was the pitching of Allie Walljasper (4-0) who came on in the second and would go on to pitch 5.2 innings and strikeout four and walk one as GSU would not score another run after the second inning. She came on in relief of starter Maribeth Gorsuch who pitched 1.1 innings and allowed four runs on four hits with two strikeouts and a walk.
Bailey Landry would continue her hot hitting over the weekend, going 4-for-4 with three singles and a triple, driving in four and scoring twice. Amanda Doyle was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, while Emily Griggs and Sahvanna Jaquish also added two hits each.
The Game Turned When…
With the game tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth, Aliyah Andrews singled and then advanced to second on a throwing error. Griggs singled through the left side and advanced to second on the throw to put two in scoring position. Bailey Landry then roped a triple to right center to bring in both and break the deadlock to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead. A single by Sahvanna Jaquish scored the team’s final run of the frame to make it 7-4 LSU.
Top Performers
Bailey Landry: 4-4, triple, four RBIs, two runs scored
Amanda Doyle: 2-3, two RBIs
Sahvanna Jaquish: 2-4, RBI, run scored
Emily Griggs: 2-4, double, run scored
Allie Walljasper: 5.2 IP, four strikeouts, walk
Quotables
Head Coach Beth Torina on looking ahead to next week in California…
“We are in a decent spot. There are still some things that we’ve got to work on and improve, but we are getting some young kids some good experience, which is really important. I think that’s huge to keep getting our young kids really valuable experience and hopefully winning some games in the process is nice too. We definitely need to get a lot better, but we are working towards where we need to be.”
Bailey Landry on her performance this week…
“I am just really focused and really relaxed. Just trying to be task oriented, and not thinking about the result, the past, or the future. Just going up at every at-bat and knowing that I have a job to get done and I try my best to do that.”
LSU returns to action next week, traveling to California to participate in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
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