After suffering a loss on Friday, No. 4 LSU tied the series against No. 10 Texas A&M with a 6-1 victory on Saturday at Aggie Softball Complex in College Station,Texas.
The Tigers (25-4, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) received a dominant pitching performance from sophomore pitcher Allie Walljasper, who went the distance and finished the game only allowing three hits and one run.
Texas A&M (26-3, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) were unable to recover after the Tigers maintained a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning.
LSU followed the frame with a solo home run from senior shortstop Bianka Bell, extending its lead to 3-0. After homering in today’s game, Bell brought her home run total to seven on the season, with four of them coming in this week alone.
The Tigers chased Texas A&M freshman hurler Samantha Snow out of the game early. Snow finished the game allowing three hits and two runs in only two innings of work. The Aggies pulled Snow (15-3) in favor of freshman Katie Marks, but she didn’t fare much better, Marks allowed six hits and four earned runs in five innings pitched.
Defensive miscues continued to hurt the Tigers on Saturday. A fielding error in the top of the third attributed to a Texas A&M score after the Aggies were to move a runner in scoring position from a error from Walljasper (4-2). The Tigers committed four errors in the contest bringing their season total to 38, the most in the Southeastern Conference.
Freshman outfielder Elyse Thornhill continued her strong offensive performance in this series, propelling the Tigers offense going 2-for-2, with a pair of RBIs. The Baton Rouge native is now 4-for-5 in the series and has notched four RBIs this weekend.
The Tigers will face off against the Aggies at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow in the rubber match.