Anybody who watched the LSU softball team’s game against Tennessee on Saturday saw something nobody has ever seen before.
LSU freshman first baseman Anissa Young ripped a no-doubt solo home run to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game, sending the 1,367 pink-clad fans at Tiger Park into a frenzy and the game into extra frames.
But it was to no avail.
LSU and Tennessee had to end the game at 4 p.m. due to travel constraints for Tennessee, and the Tigers and Vols ended the near three-hour game in a 3-3 tie.
Both teams played out the top of the eighth inning, where Tennessee scored a run, but NCAA rules forced the game to be reverted back to the end of the seventh to keep the tie.
It is the first tie in a game between two Southeastern Conference teams in league history and LSU’s first ever tie.
Young said her emotions were flipped after her big home run didn’t have the kind of impact she thought it would.
“You want to do what you want to do to win, but sometimes it doesn’t work out,” Young said. “It was a plus and a negative.”
Both teams had to agree on an end time for this game before the series even began. LSU coach Yvette Girouard said Tennessee’s flight was at about 5 p.m. after the game.
She said she began warning her players about the 4 p.m. stop time during the game at about 3:30 p.m.
“We were throwing the ball around and lollygagging,” Girouard said. “I was like, ‘Let’s go,’ because at the pace at how Tennessee plays the game, I knew we were going to be in trouble.”
Young said LSU realized the seventh inning would be the Tigers’ last chance to come away Sunday with a victory.
“This team is usually good at coming back,” she said. “But with the time thing, that kind of messed us up … We could have come back again, but the time had to stop.”
Runners left-on-base was the name of the game this weekend. LSU left 32 runners on base in the three games combined, while Tennessee stranded 30 Volunteers.
“As far as I was concerned it was almost a wasted weekend,” Girouard said. “Not a lot of production in some spots. Again though, we battled and we fought, but not enough good pitches. Way too many people left on base. We had some people that had a black hole weekend at the plate.”
LSU junior pitcher Cody Trahan started her second game of the series, as did Tennessee freshman pitcher Cat Hosfield.
Both Trahan and Hosfield did most of the hurling this weekend. Hosfield tossed 246 pitches in 14 2/3 innings with two victories Saturday, and Trahan went for 12 2/3 innings with 195 pitches.
Hosfield was relieved in the fourth inning Sunday by sophomore Ashton Ward, but came back in the sixth inning.
Trahan, like Hosfield, came back in the seventh inning after being relieved in the sixth inning by freshman pitcher Brittany Mack.
Trahan did not pitch in the second game Saturday, but both pitchers threw a complete game in the first contest this weekend.
LSU had several windows of opportunity open up through most of the game. The Tigers loaded the bases three times in the game, even once with no outs in the fourth inning.
But all the Tigers could only muster two runs total in all three situations.
“We were inches away every time,” Girouard said. “But inches only counts in horseshoes.”
LSU travels to Thibodaux on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. contest against Nicholls State at the Colonels Softball Complex.
 
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]