The No. 23 LSU softball team dropped its series finale against Ole Miss, 1-0, Sunday at Tiger Park but claimed the series with wins Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers (32-15, 13-7 Southeastern Conference) shut out Ole Miss (17-28, 4-18 SEC) for the fourth straight time in Friday’s contest, securing a 4-0 victory behind seven strong innings from LSU junior pitcher Rachele Fico.
LSU bested the Rebels, 2-1, on Saturday, with LSU senior pitcher Brittany Mack earning her 13th win.
On Sunday, the Tigers managed just two hits in seven innings and were shut out for the first time since an 2-0 loss on April 13 to then-No. 10 Tennessee.
“Obviously our offense has to do a better job making adjustments,” said LSU coach Beth Torina. “But give credit to a kid on Ole Miss in Kendall Bruning that threw a good game today.”
Bruning pitched seven shutout innings for the Rebels after taking a loss in Friday’s contest.
“Sometimes it happens,” Torina said. “There’s days where you just don’t have your best game, and a kid on another team is better that day.”
The Tigers nearly took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore third baseman Tammy Wray hit a one-out single off the top of the wall in deep left-centerfield. The hit was LSU’s first of the contest.
Sophomore Alex Boulet came on to pinch-run for Wray and stole second after numerous pickoff attempts by Ole Miss catcher Marina Parra.
Boulet took a big lead off first base, but when Parra threw down to first, Boulet took off for second base. Rebels first baseman Londen Ladner swiped a tag on first base, but by then Boulet was most of the way to second base.
After advancing to third base on a ground-out, Boulet attempted to steal home on Parra’s throw back to the pitcher but was tagged out on a close play at the plate for the third out.
“[Boulet] does a good job of trying to create things all over the place, so I’m not going to question a kid that tried to do something with an aggressive mistake,” Torina said. “She and I talked about it before she did it, that if she had an opening she was going to try to do it, and I was OK with it.”
The Rebels took their first lead of the series in the top of the sixth inning, when Rebels left fielder Brittany Broome tripled to open the inning and shortstop Allison Brown followed with an RBI ground-out.
“Ole Miss scored late in the game, and we weren’t able to come back from it today,” said Fico, who earned the loss Sunday.
The Tigers have one day of practice before facing No. 4 Florida for a doubleheader Tuesday night in Gainesville, Fla.
“This isn’t going to dictate our season,” Fico said. “We’re going to bounce back and keep fighting.”
 
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