The No. 10 LSU softball team completed its second Southeastern Conference sweep with 4-1 win over Mississippi State on Sunday.
“I think everyone in the SEC is important,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “To get three from a really quality Mississippi State team is a good weekend.”
Even with a minor knee injury on Friday night, junior pitcher Allie Walljasper held Mississippi State’s offense to only one hit in the win.
“She went 100 percent,” Torina said. “She had the little injury on Friday night but seemed to bounce back fine and did a really nice job for us today. She’s such a competitor, you never know if anything’s wrong with her, she’s going to give us her best effort and it’s going to be great.”
Behind Walljasper’s pitching, the Tigers offense held it down on the other side of the ball.
Both senior second baseman Constance Quinn and freshman first baseman Amanda Doyle went 2-for-3 at the plate.
The Tigers (31-7, 7-2 SEC) struck first in the bottom of the second when Doyle’s RBI-double drove in Quinn who reached on a walk.
That was Doyle’s first hit in her last 20 at bats and second in 27 at bats.
“Sometimes all you need is an opportunity,” Torina said. “Sydney [Springfield] out sick today and Amanda gets the opportunity and steps up. I’m excited that she made the most of her opportunity, she’s a really talented hitter and a really talented player so I’m excited for her to have that today.”
Mississippi State wasted no time as it answered with one run of its own in the top of the third.
A sac bunt from sophomore left fielder Emily Heimberger turned into a triple on an error by Quinn.
The Tigers battled back again, taking the lead again in the bottom of the third with an RBI-single from Quinn.
Not stopping there, RBI-singles from Quinn and senior right fielder Bailey Landry added two more runs to LSU’s lead in the bottom of the fifth.
“Constance [Quinn] is a veteran, she plays like a veteran,” Torina said. “She’s had a lot of at bats in her career and she acts like it. I think moving her up in the lineup and she’s done everything we’ve asked her.”
While the Tigers feel it’s too early to tell if they have hit a high point in the season with their ninth straight win, the Tigers think they are in the right place.
“I think we’re playing good softball, I think we’re finding ways to win,” Torina said. “I think we just try to approach it one hit at a time, no thing about what happened yesterday or even the pitch before. Streaks are cool but we care a lot about what the next pitch is going to be and our next opponent.”
The Tigers continue with SEC play when on April 7 when they travel to face Alabama.