LSU junior pitcher Dani Hofer averaged a win every eight hours the past two days to help the Tigers sweep Auburn in Baton Rouge. Hofer pitched a complete-game, 3-hitter Friday to lead the Tigers to an 8-1 victory in the first game of the series.She earned her second win after pitching two innings of relief in the second game of the double header. LSU (27-4, 6-0) won the game, 5-3, in extra-innings.
Hofer started her second game in two days today and held Auburn (27-7, 7-4) scoreless to help LSU cruise to a 10-0 victory.
“[Hofer’s] been in a groove the last couple of weeks,” said LSU coach Yvette Girouard. “That’s exactly what we need from her.” Hofer started Saturday’s complete-game relatively shaky. She allowed two base-runners in each of the first two innings after recording 19 strike-outs during the two games she pitched Friday. “I was just trying to find the strike zone and get things working,” Hofer said. “This was the third game {Auburn faced] me, so they knew what I was doing. So I was just trying to mix it up for them.” After hitting Auburn freshman centerfielder Krista Clyde to put two runners on base in the second inning, Hofer quickly settled down and retired the next 11 Auburn batters. Hofer allowed two more base-runners in the sixth inning before closing out the shut-out and putting LSU in position to end the game early. LSU entered the bottom of the sixth with a 7-0 lead – one run away from forcing the game to be called. LSU senior leftfielder Quinlan Duhon made sure not to keep the fans waiting. After LSU sophomore rightfielder Rachel Mitchell reached on an error and Auburn walked senior catcher Killian Roessner, Duhon sent a full-count pitch over the left field fence to send everyone home. “I made the adjustment from the first time I saw [Auburn freshman pitcher Angel Bunner] and got my barrel on the pitch,” Duhon said. “I’m glad it could get out of here.”
Not to be outdone by her pitcher’s performance, Roessner made sure to leave her stamp on the weekend – particularly in the extra-innings win.
The Tigers were down to their final out, trailing Auburn, 3-2, in the bottom of the seventh, when Roessner hit an RBI single to score sophomore centerfielder Jazz Jackson and tie the game.
After two and a half scoreless innings, Roessner came up again in the bottom of the tenth and hit a two-run homer over the left field fence to end the game.
“What can you say,” Girouard said. “She’s been clutch for us for about the past month.” Most recently, the reigning SEC Player of the Week clinched the Tigers’ 2-1 victory against South Florida on March 16 with a walk-off RBI single. “In situations like that, I usually just tell myself, ‘Look, you really need to do the best you can to score the runner,'” Roessner said. The weekend sweep extended LSU’s current win streak to 15 games. “It was real important to start this home-stand off correctly because the road is going to be very unkind to us this year,” Girouard said. “This year – just like football has the good schedule at home one year and the rough schedule on the road – we have the rough schedule on the road this year.”
The Tigers will host Mississippi State for a double-header Wednesday before playing eight of nine on the road the following two weeks.