With help from the bottom of the batting order, the LSU softball team swept a doubleheader against Northwestern State on Wednesday.
Tessa Lynam (5-0) pitched a complete game shutout as the Tigers took the second game 5-0. Lynam, who threw without a cast on her injured left hand for the first time, struck out nine Lady Demons and scattered three hits.
Kristen Schmidt threw a complete game to help LSU capture a 2-1 win in the first game. Schmidt (4-3) struck out eight batters and gave up two hits.
“She’s thrown phenomenal all year,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “She’s got three losses and she might have given up seven hits in the three losses.”
Second baseman Sara Fitzgerald led the way for LSU (9-3) at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a RBI in the first game.
“I think from one to nine, everyone can hit the ball on this team,” Fitzgerald said. “It doesn’t matter who it is, someone’s going to come through sometime. It’s good to see different people coming through.”
The bats woke up for the Tigers in the second game. Megan Steege went 2-for-3 with a RBI, and the six through nine hitters went a combined 4-for-12 with three RBIs in the win.
“The production we’ve been getting out of her [Blair Smith] and Sara Fitzgerald, those were almost nonexistent bats for us last year,” Girouard said. “That’s good to see other people rise to the occasion.”
Holding on to a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning in the first game, Schmidt gave up a walk to Lindsay Leftwitch, and Amanda Ortega roped a double to score Leftwitch and tie the game. In the bottom half of the inning, Smith tripled with one out. Steege then singled to knock in the winning run.
“We always have trouble hitting her [Ortega], and we always have trouble putting Northwestern away,” Girouard said. “But I like the fight in us, we don’t seem to quit.”
Fitzgerald said the Tigers started slow after coming off the tournament in Las Vegas, but the players picked the intensity up in the second game.
“It just takes one hit to get it started, hitting is contagious,” Fitzgerald said. “If one person gets a hit, it just seems to keep on going.”
Ortega (0-2) allowed one earned run on five hits in game one, while Loni Raspberry (0-2) took the loss in game two. Ortega drove in Northwestern State’s (0-4) only run in the first game.
LSU will be in action this weekend in the NFCA Leadoff Classic at South Commons Stadium and Complex in Columbus, Ga.