Members of the LSU softball team can relax on their weekend off after finishing a sweep of Mississippi State on Thursday.
The Tigers won game three of their two-day series 7-1 after beating the Bulldogs 5-0 and 4-0 in a doubleheader Thursday.
Junior Emily Turner started in the circle for the Tigers, giving up one run and two hits in four innings. Sophomore Megan Jolly relieved Turner and gave up three hits and no runs.
“Of course I wanted the ball, but I’m glad they gave Megan the ball because they need to keep her confident,” Turner said. “She had a great outing.”
Turner has pitched in 24 games this season, the most of any LSU pitcher. She has won 20 games and lost three.
LSU got an early four-run lead in the first inning when senior designated player Lauren Castle scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore second baseman Vanessa Soto. Junior center fielder Leslie Klein hit an opposite field home run in the next at bat.
The home run was Klein’s sixth of the season. She is batting .418 for the year.
“A key thing for me is feeling comfortable in the box and with a bat in my hands,” Klein said. “A lot of people pull the outside pitch, and I just go with it, and it just so happens to go out. The majority of my home runs are opposite field.”
Senior first baseman Stephanie Hill hit a double, and sophomore right fielder Quinlan Duhon hit another home run to bring in Hill to finish the inning.
LSU coach Yvette Girouard said she was glad Hill and Duhon were getting good at-bats. Hill was 1-for-3 in the first game Wednesday, and Duhon was hitless in the doubleheader.
“[Duhon] absolutely had ‘at-’em’s’ disease yesterday,” Girouard said. “She hit everything at ’em. And today, she hit it where no one could catch it, for sure. The one that I’m really happy to see finally coming around is Stephanie Hill. She’s hitting that ball as hard as you can possibly hit it.”
The Tigers scored three runs in the third inning, when senior left fielder Camille Harris walked and reached second on a wild pitch. Soto walked, and Harris went to third on another wild pitch. Klein got a single to bring in Harris.
Soto scored on a sacrifice fly by Hill, and Klein scored when third baseman Lauren Delahoussaye hit a double.
Mississippi State’s only run was a center field home run by pinch hitter Sammie Jo Bailey.
“Everything is starting to come together,” Klein said. “The top five in the lineup pretty much get together and know that we’re going to be key for the team if we can step up in the first inning and get things going and have everyone follow after that. It’s been working.”
 
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