Lately for LSU junior pitcher Carley Hoover, she’s tried to be perfect.
While she wasn’t on Wednesday night, she was close, as she recorded her second career no-hitter in the Tigers’ 5-0 victory against Louisiana Tech.
“Sahvanna [Jaquish] was really patient with me back there,” Hoover said about her performance. “Coach knew that this has been on my mind so they did a great job helping me tonight”
Hoover’s no-hitter was the 38th of program history and also posted 11 strikeouts.
“Everything was working for her,” senior catcher Sahvanna Jaquish said. “She was just on point. Her timing was really great, her presence on the mound was great, and her energy was really great. She deserved that no-hitter.”
The Tigers pulled ahead early in the second inning, scoring four runs.
“I thought we could’ve had some better at bats,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “I thought we did a good job stepping up in some key situations. We were able to string some things together, any time you have a big inning, you’re going to have some success.”
Sophomore third baseman Shemiah Sanchez was hit by a pitch to start off the inning. Sophomore shortstop Amber Serrett single right field and freshman left fielder Aliyah Andrews sacrificed bunted to move runners into scoring position.
Junior center fielder Emily Griggs reached on an error to the shortstop, scoring Sanchez to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Senior outfielder Bailey Landry outran the play to load the bases, paving the way for Jaquish to drive in another run.
Freshman first baseman Sydney Springfield reached on a fielder’s choice as the second baseman for Louisiana Tech attempted to tag Jaquish, but missed. While the play was not ruled an error, the Tigers scored two unearned runs.
Following the second inning, the Tigers only scored one run.
Jaquish hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to score Landry from second base, putting the Tigers ahead 5-0.
Louisiana Tech changed pitchers in the bottom of the fifth inning, and despite the Tigers remaining scoreless in the fifth, the Lady Techsters changed pitchers again in the bottom of the sixth.
“What I liked that we did is that we saw three different pitchers and we did really well on all of them,” Landry said. “We were ready for whatever they had to throw at us.”
The LSU defense was there backing up Hoover, committing only one error during the game.
“This game was more of a ‘get mentally right’ game,” Hoover said. “We’re trying to build and get better before conference play.”
LSU kicks off the Purple and Gold Challenge on Friday Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. against Georgia Southern.
