The LSU softball team finished a stretch of eight consecutive road games Wednesday night with a 7-1 victory against in-state foe McNeese State.
McNeese (32-11, 13-3 Southland Conference) entered Wednesday night’s game as the top team in the Southland Conference with the NCAA’s eighth-leading team ERA of 1.67, but LSU made easy work of the Cowgirls’ pitching.
McNeese starting pitcher Jamie Allred held No. 11 LSU (36-9, 11-4 Southeastern Conference) in check for the first three innings, allowing the Tigers only two runs. But in the fourth inning, it fell apart for the freshman.
LSU freshman shortstop Bianka Bell ended Allred’s night with a three-run home run, topping off a five-run inning for the Tigers and giving the Tigers their winning 7-1 margin. In addition to putting the game well out of reach, Bell’s homer pushed her team-leading RBI total to 42 and secured her 12th consecutive game with at least one RBI.
Sophomore outfielder A.J. Andrews padded her own stat sheet, collecting two RBIs on three hits and adding two stolen bases. Andrews reached base in four of her five at-bats and scored three of LSU’s runs.
But Andrews and Bell weren’t the only Tigers doing damage against Allred, as all but one Tiger starter tallied a hit in the game and five LSU hitters had multi-hit games.
“I thought our kids did exactly what they needed to do,” said LSU coach Beth Torina. “They came out and scored early, took care of business and left no doubt in people’s minds.”
LSU junior pitcher Meghan Patterson pitched a complete game, striking out three Cowgirl hitters while surrendering only three hits. One of those hits came on McNeese sophomore catcher Ashley Modzelewski’s solo home run, which accounted for the Cowgirls’ only run of the night.
Patterson effectively used a drop-ball pitch that Torina said Patterson has been developing in bullpen sessions over the last couple weeks.
The pitch forced McNeese into several ground ball outs, but Patterson said the true effectiveness of the pitch will come in three-game series when teams have to contend with her drop ball as well as senior ace pitcher Rachele Fico’s contrasting rise ball.
“[The drop ball] was definitely working for me tonight,” Patterson said. “I was just focussing on keeping the ball down, and there was just that one time that I didn’t and she happened to hit it out. … I’ll definitely use it a lot going forward.”
Patterson will have an opportunity to test the drop ball in a series setting this weekend against No. 12 Missouri. The Tigers will follow that series with three games against No. 4 Alabama to close out its SEC home schedule.
Missouri and Alabama are the toughest back-to-back opponents LSU has faced all season, and both will test LSU’s streak of not losing an SEC series all season.
Regardless of the opponents that await them, Torina said the Tigers are just glad to be returning home after more than two weeks on the road.
