No. 20 LSU softball finally got its first conference win of the season with a commanding offensive display, beating No. 16 Texas A&M 7-2 in Game 3.
LSU seemed to enter this contest with a much bigger focus on batting, recording eight hits and a series high seven runs, after only scoring two in the past two contests.
Tatum Clopton played her first game of the series and her first complete game of the season. She threw 130 pitches while recording six strikeouts. She’d allow a series-low five hits, while letting up only two hits through the first five innings.
Despite two errors, LSU’s defense also had its best performance of the series, holding the Aggies scoreless in five innings.
In the first inning, LSU’s fielding got off to a rough start, dropping a pop-up in center field and recording its first error on the first pitch. Clopton would struggle some, letting three runners on base, but would hold up under pressure and force two flyouts to end the top of the first scoreless.
Head coach Beth Torina selected Avery Hodge to lead off LSU’s batting order, and she would quickly get on base after being hit by a pitch. The Tigers would stay quiet through the first, though, after Aggies pitcher Sydney Lessentine dealt two straight strikeouts to end the inning.
LSU started to take over in the bottom of the second, after Jaila Lassiter nuked a homer to left field. Kylee Edwards was then walked, before Ci’ella Pickett struck out, ending the inning with the first LSU lead of the series at 1-0.
LSU’s defense would look strong again at the top of the third, forcing its second hitless inning of the contest.
The defensive highs carried over to the offensive side when Hodge got on base again with a single, shortly before stealing second. She then advanced home after a chaotic scramble for a ground ball at third base, hyping up all of Tiger Park.
The play would prove anticlimactic, however, after video review showed Hodge interfering with the path of the ball, forcing her out.
The Tiger defense kept showing out in the fourth inning, forcing a quick 1-2-3 inning. The offense took over and kept up the great batting from the third.
Char Lorenz and Kylee Edwards started the hits off with singles before Pickett got her second single of the night, which then turned into an Alix Franklin run after a Texas A&M error at second base.
Kylee Edwards also capitalized on the error, stealing home to push the lead to three.
Texas A&M would start to fight back in the fifth, getting two runners on base quickly after two singles. A sacrifice fly by Aggies first baseman Micaela Wark gave Texas A&M its first run of the matchup, but the Tigers wouldn’t let anything else up and force the end of the inning with a groundout.
LSU kept getting hits in the fifth, with Maddox McKee and Tori Edwards reaching first and second base. Lorenz was next up to bat and nearly took the game away after she rocketed a ball towards the left-center field wall. Aggies left fielder Paislie Allen saved the game, though, after snatching the ball right before going over for a three-run home run.
After another great 1-2-3 inning by LSU’s defense, the Tigers would keep up the great offense, getting another three runners on base while only sitting on one out.
With bases loaded, Hodge and Lassiter were walked, pushing LSU’s lead up to 5-1.
Maci Bergeron hit a double far into left field, sending home two more runners. Tiger Park exploded in cheers as LSU jumped to a commanding 7-1 lead with only one inning to go.
With LSU needing three outs to get its first conference win, Clopton continued to show up in big moments, getting her fifth strikeout along with a flyout.
A&M would drive in their second run while on two outs, but it would be all for nothing after the Tiger defense secured the 7-2 win with another strikeout.
LSU will now look to add another conference game to the win streak when it takes on No. 23 South Carolina away on Friday night.
