Attention to detail and small miscues lead to a rare home loss for LSU softball Thursday night against a non-conference opponent.
No. 7 LSU (9-3) got out to a 5-0 lead but couldn’t close the door as they fell to Stanford (7-2) 7-5.
The game started off slow on the offensive side as both teams combined for one hit through the first three innings.
The defenses were shining and LSU junior pitcher Maribeth Gorsuch found her rhythm with three straight three up, three down innings from the second to the fourth.
The scoring finally started in the bottom of the third when the Tigers executed some small ball to get runners on second and third with one out.
While two Tigers got thrown out at the plate in the third, two runners crossed the plate to give LSU the early lead.
Gorsuch kept dealing with a mixture of high heat and low spinners to keep Stanford off balance.
Gorsuch finished the afternoon with an impressive stat line: 5.1 innings pitched while allowing only one earned run on two hits.
Unfortunately, she would be one of the few bright spots for the Tigers as the Cardinal could not be subdued for long.
Gorsuch walked the bases loaded twice and made LSU coach Beth Torina switch to the freshman Shelby Wickersham in hopes that a new arm could get out of the jam.
Wickersham came in without fear and struck out the first batter. She released a yell, and the team was fired up.
The momentum did not last for long as Wickersham seemed to get the strikeout to end the inning, but the ball was mishandled by the catcher Schlattman, which allowed a run to score.
Another error by the third basemen Sanchez allowed two more to score, and the damage was not done.
Wickersham gave up two more singles, which extended the Stanford lead to 7-5. Sanchez caught a lineout to finally stop the bleeding.
Wickersham closed out the side in the sixth with no damage, and the game went to the bottom of the seventh with Stanford leading by two.
Doyle looked to cut the lead in half, but the ball fell a couple of feet short on the warning track for out number one. Sanchez and Sunseri both recorded outs to complete the comeback for Stanford.
Wickersham finished her night with impressive numbers as she went 1.2 innings and gave up no earned runs, but she did allow two hits in her short time.
The game was winnable and the pitchers did all they could to contain Stanford, who found all their success in one inning.
Torina, along with the players, believe that the loss came down to small mistakes.
“Little things all over the place caught up to us,” Torina said. “I think that we have to have a better attention to detail.”
Remedying these small mistakes will have to happen quickly as LSU is set to play a doubleheader Friday at Tiger Park, but the team can build on the exceptional pitching in hopes to get back on the winning track.