Headed into the sixth inning of Thursday’s Women’s College World Series opening round game, LSU looked poised to once again shock the softball world as it played pitch for pitch against No. 1 overall seed Cal.
Then, Cal flexed its muscles.
A three-run sixth inning, highlighted by four straight Cal hits, quashed any hopes of a Lady Tiger upset as the Golden Bears rallied for a 5-3 victory in Oklahoma City.
“The only thing I was disappointed in was our defense,” said LSU coach Beth Torina in a news release. “I think if we clean a few things up and make a couple of adjustments, we’ll be good to go for the next game.”
The largely anemic LSU offense erupted for eight hits, three coming in a two-run second inning that gave the Lady Tigers (39-24) an early 2-0 lead.
Cal (57-5) managed only two unearned runs off of junior All-American Rachele Fico, before she was lifted in the sixth inning after surrendering a single and a double.
Senior Brittany Mack then allowed two consecutive singles that allowed two runs to score, hit a batter, then gave up an RBI groundout before getting out of the frame.
The Lady Tigers rallied in the 7th with a pinch hit single from senior Cassie Trosclair. After two consecutive groundouts to advance Trosclair to third, senior Ashley Langoni doubled her home, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of fellow senior Juliana Santos.
Santos worked the count full before she grounded out to second to send the Lady Tigers into an elimination game against South Florida on Saturday.
Senior Ashley Applegate paced the Tiger offense with a 3-for-3 day at the plate, while senior catcher Morgan Russell chipped in two RBI’s.
“I liked how our offense swung the bat today,” Torina said. “I think we have to give a lot of credit to Cal and their offense.”