The LSU softball team swept the Purple and Gold Challenge this weekend, taking two games apiece from Troy and Mississippi Valley State at Tiger Park.
“Today was exactly how we should have come out,” said LSU coach Beth Torina after the Tigers’ fourth victory of the weekend. “We came out and did
everything we needed to do.”
LSU (15-7) began the weekend with a 2-0 victory over the Mississippi Valley State Devilettes (10-12).
The Tigers opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning when freshman third baseman Kailey McCasland ripped a two-out single up the middle, plating senior left fielder Ashley Langoni from second base.
LSU added its second and final run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI pop-up from sophomore designated player Allison Falcon.
Sophomore pitcher Meghan Patterson earned her second complete-game shutout victory in as many starts, striking out nine and allowing just three hits.
In Friday’s nightcap, LSU handed the Troy Trojans (16-5) their third loss of the season in a 6-3 victory.
The Tigers got on the board early against the Trojans, scoring two runs in the game’s opening frame.
Senior shortstop Juliana Santos stole second with Langoni at third base, who scored when the throw to second sailed into
center field.
The next batter, freshman infielder Dylan Supak, belted a liner over the pitcher’s head to score Santos from second base, pushing the Tigers’ lead to two.
After Troy cut the deficit to one in the top of the fifth, the Tigers answered back in the bottom of the fifth on an opposite-field, two-run home run by Falcon. The home run — Falcon’s first at LSU — extended the Tigers’ lead to three.
“I had seen that outside pitch before, and I was expecting it,” Falcon said. “I just did what needed to be done.”
After yielding two unearned runs in the seventh, Mack finished off the Trojans for her fifth win of the season.
In Saturday afternoon’s contest against Troy, LSU broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the seventh on a game-winning, pinch-hit RBI single by sophomore first baseman Ashleigh Kuhn.
“She, in my head, is the first one off the bench in a pinch-hitting role if she’s not already in the lineup,” Torina said.
Junior pitcher Rachele Fico earned her seventh win on a complete-game, one-hit shutout.
“We were keeping a pretty healthy mix with pitch calling,” Fico said. “We really kept them off balance today.”
Fico struck out 10, including her 400th career punch-out, which came in the first inning.
“When she’s on, she’s really on,” Torina said. “There wasn’t a moment where anyone had doubt in that game.”
In the weekend finale against Mississippi Valley State, the Tigers put 11 runs on the board in the first inning, en route to a 16-0 victory in five innings.
The 11-run inning is the most runs LSU has put up in an inning since scoring 12 in a single frame against Texas Southern on Feb. 26, 2006.
Mack and Patterson split the duty in the circle, with Mack earning her sixth win.
“We just need to keep rolling with this momentum we have right now,” Fico said.
The Tigers open Southeastern Conference play Wednesday with a doubleheader against No. 19 Auburn (20-3) at Tiger Park, starting at 5 p.m.
 
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