Led by a strong outing by freshman pitcher Megan Jolly, LSU rolled past Southeastern Louisiana University on Wednesday night 7-0 in Tiger Park.
Coach Yvette Girouard said Jolly, who pitched with two cracked ribs, accomplished what Girouard needed.
“It was a great performance,” Girouard said. “She had some bumps in the road, but she came back and settled down and got her control.”
In the bottom of the first, junior Camille Harris sent a single to center field. After consecutive ground outs by Lauren Castle and Vanessa Soto, junior Stephanie Hill blasted a double to left-center field which gave LSU the early 1-0 lead.
Southeastern began the top of the second inning with back-to-back hits. Amy Ford began the inning with an infield single, followed by a double by Rebecca de la Garza to put runners at first and second with no outs. After a visit to the mound by Girouard, Jolly managed to get out of the jam, striking out the next two batters and ending the inning with a pop out.
“I just told her she needed to help herself out,” Girouard said. “I just told her to hit her position.”
LSU’s offense continued to surge in the bottom of the second as Leslie Klein got on base with a leadoff walk. Following a pop-out by freshman Quinlan Duhon, Andrea Smith advanced Klein with a single to center field to put runners at first and second. Two batters later, Harris brought Klein home with a single. A double by Castle then gave LSU the 3-0 lead as starting pitcher Jessica Sander was pulled after just 1.2 innings.
LSU put up its third run of the inning when a ground ball by Vanessa Soto was fumbled by Southeastern’s de la Garza, which scored Harris and gave LSU a 4-0 lead.
Jolly got the win after striking out 10 batters in seven innings and allowing no runs on four hits.
“I just wanted to keep the team in the ball-game,” Jolly said. “Our batters came through with some awesome hits, and the team played awesome defensively behind me.”