For two days, the LSU softball team proved coach Beth Torina’s belief that the team could compete with anyone, taking two straight games from No. 2 Tennessee with timely hitting and solid pitching.
Sunday, however, Torina saw what many would expect one of the best teams in the nation to do to a team near the bottom of the Southeastern Conference.
LSU (22-16, 4-8 SEC) was silenced offensively for the first time all weekend, and Tennessee’s bats came alive in the early innings as the Lady Volunteers (32-5, 9-3 SEC) defeated the Tigers, 9-0, in six innings in the final game of the series at Tiger Park.
“We came out a little flat, so that’s a little unfortunate,” senior second baseman Allison Falcon said. “But we won a series against a great team, so we are not going to dwell on something like this.”
The biggest difference Sunday was the performance of Tennessee’s star pitcher, Ellen Renfroe. The senior pitched a six-inning shutout while allowing only three hits and one walk.
Renfroe entered Friday with a team-leading 21-0 record and a 1.29 earned run average. But Renfroe allowed a walk-off home run in the seventh inning Friday and was unable to get through the second inning Saturday, giving the senior her first two losses of the season.
Torina, who called Renfroe the best pitcher in the country last week, said she saw a different pitcher Sunday and thought she made some great adjustments from earlier in the weekend.
Tennessee got to LSU senior pitcher Ashley Czechner quickly as shortstop Madison Shipman laced a two-run home run to left field just three batters in. The hit gave Shipman her team-leading ninth home run of the season.
Czechner ran into more trouble in the third inning, as an infield single and a walk put two runners on for Shipman with one out. Shipman sent the ball up the middle, scoring a run with a single and bringing Czechner’s day to an end.
Shipman was selected No. 2 overall in the National Professional Fastpitch College Draft earlier this week, and Falcon said Sunday’s game displayed how she earned that honor.
Czechner’s replacement, freshman Baylee Corbello, got the Tigers out of their jam in the third and appeared in control after getting the first two batters out in the fourth.
But two singles, three walks and a wild pitch, all with two outs, scored three more runs to put the game out of reach.
The Lady Volunteers put the game in mercy-rule range in the sixth inning with freshman catcher Annie Aldrete’s three-run home run to push the lead to nine. The Tigers could only muster a single in the bottom of the inning as Renfroe shut them down to end the game.
LSU will continue its homestand when it hosts McNeese State Wednesday followed by a three-game series against Georgia starting Friday.
Torina said despite the blowout today, this series gives the team confidence as it rolls through conference play.
“Definitely nice to win a series against somebody as talented as Tennessee,” Torina said. “… It’s always nice to go out on a winning note, but we have to keep in mind we won a series against a quality Tennessee team.”