The No. 10 LSU softball team dominated on offense to open its series against Mississippi State with a 7-2 win.
“We have timely hitting and I think that was the difference between us and [Mississippi] State today,” senior catcher Sahvanna Jaquish said. “They had one less hit than us but we had runners on base and we had that timely hit.”
The Tigers (29-7, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) came out swinging, taking a three run lead in the first inning.
LSU dominated Mississippi State senior pitcher Alexis Silkwood with eight hits and seven runs. Silkwood had an ERA of less than one coming into this game.
Senior center fielder Emily Griggs and senior right fielder Bailey Landry kicked off the first inning with back-to-back singles. Jaquish wasted no time as she hit her sixth home run of the season.
“Silkwood always does a really good job,” Jaquish said. “I’ve just hit off of her a lot of times in my career so that’s just knowing her best pitch and knowing what I have too.”
The Tigers struck again in the bottom of the sixth when freshman infielder Nicky Dawson came in to pinch hit for freshman first baseman Sydney Springfield. Dawson’s slap turned into a in the park home run.
Mississippi State shifted its defense on the slap, similar to what LSU uses occasionally, leaving five infielders and no one in right field. Dawson advanced to second on the throwing error by MSU pitcher Alexis Silkwood and continued advancing to home plate with the ball in right field.
“That’s the exact shift that we use on slappers but I think that our slappers are intelligent since we do that on this team and we know how to hit out of the plan,” Jaquish said.
LSU scored three more runs in the sixth on RBI-singles from sophomore outfielder Elyse Thornhill and senior catcher Jaquish.
On the defensive side of the ball, LSU was as solid as ever.
Junior pitcher Carley Hoover was commanding in the circle, allowing seven hits on 10 strikeouts and one walk.
“She was commanding every single pitch,” Jaquish said. “It’s so hard to hit a pitcher where every single pitch is working correctly and she was putting it in the exact spot that she wanted so her spin was true and it was breaking.”
Despite a brief hiccup in the top of the seventh where Mississippi State scored two runs on three hits, the Tigers held them as Hoover got her tenth strikeout to end the game.
“I feel like we were on all parts of our game tonight: offense, defense, pitching, catching,” Hoover said. “Me and Sahvanna, I feel like we’re on the same page most of the night so it felt good to get it all done for one at the same time.”
LSU faces Mississippi State again tomorrow for game two at 6 p.m.