In what was the third day of double headers for LSU this week, the Tigers won a close game against ninth-ranked UL-Lafayette Cajuns 3-2, and went on to ride a complete game by freshman pitcher Morgan Smith in a 7-1 victory against the University of Buffalo Bulls.  
Game 1 – LSU VS UL-Lafayette
After traveling to Lafayette on Thursday and beating the Cajuns 4-0, the Tigers went back and forth in this follow-up game two days later.
Final scores in the ULL/LSU Invitational consisted of ninth-ranked UL-Lafayette beating unranked Buffalo 7-0 and 16-0, and the 10th ranked OSU Cowgirls beating 11th ranked LSU 1-0 and 3-1 during Friday’s day of games. To start the day, OSU had beaten Buffalo 6-3, and UL-Lafayette beat OSU 7-1.
Shelbi Sunseri started the game for the Tigers, giving up a hit but caught someone looking for an early strikeout. Aliyah Andrews made a spectacular diving catch in center, something you would see on SportsCenter, to lead off the top of the second defensively for the Tigers.
Andrews followed this up with an infield single to start the bottom half of the third and stole second base on the next pitch to put herself in scoring position.
Pleasants stroked a liner up the middle to bring her home, plating the first run of the game for the Tigers, but the lead was only lived for a short period.
To start the fourth, the Cajuns reached on an infield hit, and a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second. A single to the outfield brought a run in for the Cajuns. Things did not get any better for Sunseri during this inning as a stolen base and a single to center advanced the runner to third, but a strong throw by Andrews halted the runner there, stopping a run from scoring, but allowed the batter, Rawls, to move to second on the throw. Sunseri was pulled following this, and Maribeth Gorsuch entered to try and get out of the jam.
The next batter, Curry, singled to left, scoring the runner from third and giving the Cajuns the lead 2-1. Gorsuch, after loading the bases, was able to get out of the inning not allowing any more damage and keeping the game close for the team.
Georgia Clark decided to answer back for the Tigers. She hit a solo homerun out to left, her second of the season, to tie the game back up 2-2.
Defense was the driving force that kept the Tigers in the game. Shortstop Pleasants turned a quick double play on a hard-hit liner to her and threw to second to get the runner that was off the bag. That saved a run for the Tigers, as the speed of the runner on second would have out-run the throw to home by the left fielder if the ball had gotten through. Andrews followed up her first diving catch with another highlight real play out in center, but the game remained tied through the middle of the sixth.
The Tigers managed to take the lead after Ciara Briggs reached first on a throwing error by the Cajuns third-baseman, and as the ball rolled all the way to the right field corner, Briggs touched them all, making it a 3-2 game heading to the top of the seventh.
Gorsuch was pulled midway through the seventh after getting one out and leaving a runner on first. Ali Kilponen entered the circle for the Tigers, and a grounder to first followed by a strikeout ended the game.
Gorsuch earned the win for the game, improving to 2-0 while going 3.0 IP 3H 2BB 1K 0ER, and Kilponen earned her first save of the year for her 0.2IP 1K of work.
The Tigers, having swept the Cajuns for the season, had a half-hour break before they had to retake the field against Buffalo.
Game 2 – LSU VS University of Buffalo
Freshman Morgan Smith started her second game of the season in the circle against Buffalo. Prior to this, she had only pitched five innings in two appearances. She quickly worked through the top of the first, only needing eight pitches to do so.
Andrews led the game with an infield single and a steal of second base to quickly move into scoring position. Taylor Pleasants brought her home with a line drive up the middle, nearly missing Andrews to make it a 1-0 game.
Smith gave up her only run of the game on a solo homerun to tie the game in the top of the second. In the bottom half of the inning, the Tigers responded the same way that they did in the first, with a lead-off single and stolen second base, this time with Taylor Tidwell standing on second. Andrews knocked her in on a double up the middle for a 2-1 LSU lead. A bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth made it a 3-1 game.
Through five IP Smith allowed 3K, 3H, 1ER and had only thrown 53 pitches. At one point in the game, she retired nine straight batters, quickly working through the third and fourth innings.
LSU opened the game up in the bottom half of the sixth inning plating four runners, making it a 7-1 game at the start of the seventh inning.
Smith got the call to close out the game, her first attempt to pitch a complete game in her young Tiger career. She did just that, finishing the Buffalo batters in order, three-up three-down. Smith’s final line for her complete game as she improved to 2-0 on the season was 7IP 4H 1ER 3K.
Outside of Smith’s impressive pitching performance, Andrews’ performance on the field and in the base path is something worth checking out. Andrews went two for three, scoring a run and swiping two bags against the Cajuns, while against Buffalo went four for four with a double, scored two runs, one run batted in and two stolen bases.
Having Andrews lead off an inning with a bunt and a steal of second will be a dominant move for the Tigers going forward, as the teams today struggled trying to stop her on the base paths. What she adds defensively will save runs, and have her on SportsCenter top ten sometime this season.
The Tigers (10-5) went 5-2 this week, and although they were swept by the OSU Cowgirls, the sweep of the Cajuns balances out those losses. LSU will get two days off before Southern Mississippi comes to Tiger Park Tuesday, March 2.