The senior day experience for softball players Julie Wiese, Kristin Schmidt, LaDonia Hughes and Sara Fitzgerald was dampened on Sunday because of a 3-1 loss to the Florida Gators in game two of the doubleheader.
After winning game one of the day, 4-1, the Tigers honored their four senior leaders with a pre-game ceremony. Each of the seniors had their numbers etched into the Tiger Park grass behind each of their positions.
The tears and emotions were flowing, but unfortunately for the Tigers’ faithful, the bats and runs were not as forthcoming.
“It’s not the way I would have liked to leave the park today but it does not overshadow the fact that we are the SEC champions,” said coach Yvette Girouard. “It was an emotional day for the seniors, not that that’s an excuse because we did not make anything happen offensively.”
LSU took games one and two of the series by the scores of 4-0 and 4-1, respectively. With their 4-0 victory on Saturday the Tigers clinched the Southeastern Conference.
The Tigers pounded out seven hits in game two on Sunday but came away with only one run.
“We just did not make adjustments at the plate,” Wiese said. “When you don’t make adjustments, you are not going to win and that’s what happened, obviously.”
Florida jumped out on the board first with a two-out single to center field by catcher Michelle Diaz that scored Lauren Rousell from second.
Starting pitcher Emily Turner kept the Gators in check for the next four innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth as the Gators started the inning with four consecutive singles.
The third single of the inning, from Kristen Butler, scored two Gators and put Florida up 3-0.
“I struggled a lot,” Turner said. “In warm-ups I kind of knew how it was going to be — it wasn’t the best warm-ups. The defense kept helping me out, kept pushing behind me and the offense came around toward the end of the game. I could not be more proud of my team, but I really wished that I could have pitched a good game for them and the seniors.”
The Tigers got one run back in the sixth on a Leslie Klein sacrifice fly that plated Hughes from third. LSU pulled within two runs of the Gators at 3-1.
In the seventh, the Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. Two batters and two outs later, the Tigers were faced with runners at second and third and designated player Lauren Castle at the plate. But like so many other opportunities in the game the Tigers did not put across any runs as Gators starting pitcher Stacey Stevens struck out Castle to end the game.
“Offensively it was the same pitcher we saw in the first game, and although she is a nice talent, we just did not make things happen offensively,” Girouard said.
Stevens (14-7), who picked up the win for the Gators in game three and the loss in game two, pitched 13 innings on Sunday. She allowed 12 hits and five earned runs, while striking out seven batters.
Turner (17-4) pitched seven innings for the Tigers, allowing nine hits and three earned runs while striking out three batters.
“If I did not give them the pitches to hit, then they would have not been able to hit them,” Turner said. “Some of [the hits] were real cheap shots too, like putting the ball in the perfect spot. But that is just how softball is.”
Senior pitcher Kristin Schmidt (28-5) won games one and two of the series for the Tigers.