On the first night of the LSU Invitational, the Tiger softball team defeated Illinois State 1-0 in 10 innings and McNeese State 2-0.
The Tigers secured the victory against the Redbirds as an infield single from senior pitcher Allie Walljasper drove in a run by sophomore outfielder Claire Weinberger to end the game. Junior shortstop Amber Serrett hit the walk off home run against the Cowgirls to help the Tigers improve to 16-2.
“I’m glad that [Serrett] kept swinging hard,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “Even through some adversity and through some struggles, just keep your ax and keep swinging hard and she did that.”
Both of the starting pitchers dominated in the circle throughout the evening. Sophomore Maribeth Gorsuch started against Illinois State and recorded six strikeouts in the first three innings.
She finished her night by recording one allowed hit and 12 strikeouts, which is a career high.
Gorsuch, who has started eight games so far in her collegiate career, was amazed at having that type of performance.
“It was just an awesome feeling,” Gorsuch said. “We had a phenomenal catcher behind the plate and a great defense, and without them, I couldn’t have gotten it done.”
Walljasper started off hot against McNeese State as she struck out three hitters in the first inning and eight batters overall. She also allowed one hit throughout the entire game.
“She rarely has a bad game, but when she does, she always bounces back from it,” Gorsuch said of her fellow pitcher. “She’s just an awesome teammate and awesome person in general.”
While Gorsuch started her third game of the season against the Redbirds, Torina commends the fight that was inside of her young pitcher.
“She threw phenomenal,” Torina said. “It was nice to see her get going and giving us a game like that.”
LSU and Illinois State were scoreless for all seven innings of regulation. The Redbirds ended the sixth inning with a double play just as the Tiger offense began to gain momentum.
Senior outfielder Emily Griggs recorded a double in shallow left field during the inning, but Serrett popped up a bunt that caught sophomore left fielder Aliyah Andrews in a double play to end the inning.
That trend continued in the matchup against McNeese as both teams were scoreless for the first sixth innings.
The Tiger defense never broke. It remained stout for the rest of the evening as both Redbird and Cowgirl runners were stranded on bases in their final innings.
“I think that it’s important that we learn how to win in a lot of different ways,” Torina said. “We didn’t have a huge offensive output today, but you’re going to have days like this.”
Despite the offense struggling for most of the night, Torina is still confident that it can find its groove once again heading into the rest of the weekend.
“It’s nice to set us be able to win without having the production that we’re looking for,” Torina said.
The Tigers play Purdue tomorrow at 5 p.m. and Florida Atlantic at 7:30 p.m. to continue the LSU Invitational.
