The No. 19 LSU softball team closed out the 2015 Tiger Classic with a 4-2 victory against North Carolina State on Sunday afternoon, finishing the opening weekend undefeated for the first time since starting 6-0 in the 2011 Tiger Classic.
The Tigers (5-0) swept the field, picking up two wins against the Wolfpack (2-3) and one against Memphis, Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State.
LSU’s power shone early as it did all weekend, highlighted by junior shortstop Bianka Bell’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first. After the first two innings, the Tigers relied on stellar defense and a combination of solid outings from sophomore pitcher Baylee Corbello and freshman pitcher Carley Hoover.
“It’s a great start,” said LSU coach Beth Torina. “We’re excited about it. We saw a lot of good things out of our team. We saw a lot of things we still need to work on, so we’ll make sure we get after it in practice this week and keep getting better.”
Both lineups came out swinging in the first two innings, scoring five of the combined six runs.
After not surrendering an extra base hit in her first start against Memphis on Friday, Corbello gave up her first home run of the season in the top of the first to NC State’s junior third baseman, Lana Van Dyken.
“[The home run] was just my fault,” Corbello said. “I just left it in the middle, just a dropball that was kind of flat. You can’t make that mistake against any batter, first or ninth.”
Corbello responded by striking out two of the next three batters to bring LSU into the bottom of the first, trailing NC State by one run.
Bell stepped up to the plate with one out and sophomore right fielder Bailey Landry on first. Bell took the game into her own capable hands on the fourth pitch of the at-bat when she smashed a home run over the hill in left field, driving in her 10th run of the season.
After Bell showed the power of the Tigers’ lineup in the first, LSU completed the one-two punch of power and speed in the second by relying on the quickness of sophomore infielder Constance Quinn and freshman outfielder Emily Griggs to score two runs, extending its lead to 4-1.
In the top of the third, the Wolfpack tallied its second run when junior infielder Maggie Hawkins grounded out into a double play, scoring senior shortstop Renada Davis.
At the top of the fifth, LSU made its first pitching change of the 2015 season after each of its pitchers threw complete games in its four previous games.
Hoover (1-0) came in relief for Corbello (2-0), who finished the day with four strikeouts, two walks and two earned runs in four innings pitched.
Although Hoover hit the first batter she faced, she turned it around immediately, striking out five of the next six. Hoover leads the Tigers with 15 strikeouts through the first five games.
Corbello and Hoover combined to allow the Wolfpack only one hit in the last four innings.
“Most good teams start hitting around the fifth inning,” Corbello said. “It’s great to have someone to come in and close out. We offset each other really well.”
Throughout the weekend, two aspects of the Tigers’ game stood out: pitching and power hitting.
Coming into the season, Torina stressed the importance of using every pitcher on staff. Through the Tigers’ first five games, each pitcher has thrown a complete game, and as a rotation, all four have posted a combined 41 strikeouts compared with only seven walks.
“I’d be interested to know if there’s another team in the country that’s got four pitchers that have thrown four complete games and that’s 4-0, that’s even used four pitchers to the extent we have,” Torina said Saturday after LSU’s first win against NC State.
After breaking a single-season program record with 65 home runs last season, LSU looks well on its way to having another lineup stacked with power hitters.
Through the first five games, Bell leads the Tigers with three home runs after hitting 14 last season, trailing only then-freshman catcher Sahvanna Jaquish for the team lead last year.
“It’s a really good feeling,” Bell said. “I know that I still have a lot to work on, so I’m going to go really hard this week at practice, and hopefully it comes around this coming weekend so I can do the same thing.”
You can reach Morgan Prewitt on Twitter @kmprewitt_TDR.