A team with one hit seldom wins a softball game.
But that is exactly what happened Saturday.
After pitching six scoreless and hitless innings from sophomore pitcher Carley Hoover, the No. 8 LSU softball team found itself in a 1-0 hole as No. 16 Kentucky used its lone hit to plate a run in the top of the seventh.
“Carley threw well enough to win a ballgame,” said senior designated player Kellsi Kloss. “To have your pitcher only give up one hit, you expect that we’re going to win a ballgame.”
The Tigers (29-10, 5-8 Southeastern Conference) couldn’t bounce back in the bottom half of the frame and fell to the Wildcats (32-8, 9-4 SEC) 1-0.
Hoover allowed the one hit in her complete game effort, but the hit lost the game due to her miscues earlier in the inning. After Hoover hit two Wildcat batters and walking another, UK senior centerfielder Sylver Samuel stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded.
The senior swung on a 0-2 pitch and sent the ball straight up the middle for an RBI-single, scoring the contest’s only run.
LSU’s offense was not held without chances to score, but the team could not take advantage of its runners. The Tigers left 9 on the basepath, including three on third base.
Kentucky senior hurler Kelsey Nunley was partially to blame. She recorded six strikeouts and allowed five hits en route to her 14th win this season.
“She doesn’t make mistakes,” said LSU coach Beth Torina. “She’s one of the best in the [SEC] … She’s had a lot of success against a lot of people.”
Tigers junior catcher Sahvanna Jaquish nearly broke the deadlock in the sixth.
She blasted a ball just foul of the left field pole. Two pitches later, Jaquish cracked one deep to left center, but Wildcat sophomore left fielder Brooklin Hinz caught it with her back to the wall.
Torina thought, when the ball left Jaquish’s bat, that it would clear the fence.
“It’s tough to refocus after you go deep and you think it was out,” Jaquish said.
Torina’s squad will look to even the series Sunday night when Game 2 begins at 6 p.m.
