After going 1-4 on the road at the Shriners Clearwater Invitational, LSU softball traveled back home to Baton Rouge and executed a commanding run-rule victory Tuesday night over South Alabama.
The fans at Tiger Park celebrated their Mardi Gras by watching LSU dominate the Jaguars 10-2 to enforce the run-rule win after five innings.
The Tigers sat at 7-4 overall ahead of the mid-week matchup, following a three-game losing streak that haunted the team as it left Florida. Tuesday night’s game would add another win to the record.
“We talked as a team about just staying together and having fun,” sophomore Alix Franklin said about bouncing back from Clearwater. “We showed each other baby pictures of us playing softball in Florida, and it was really cool cause I feel like it was just those little girls playing softball today.”
Against the Jaguars, the Tigers were 15-1 all-time and held a 10-game win streak. In LSU’s last matchup against the Jaguars, an 18-4 run-rule win would bring home a purple and gold victory. LSU added another game to keep the run-rule win streak alive.
Fifth-year senior Tatum Clopton earned the start on the mound for the Tigers. Clopton’s first inning began with three quick outs as the first two batters she faced quickly popped up, with the last out being a groundout to third.
The dominant pitching performance to begin the game paved the way for senior outfielder Jalia Lassiter to leadoff the bottom of the first inning. Lassiter’s patience at the plate has validated head coach Beth Torina’s choice to have her in the leadoff spot. Lassiter drew a walk to kickstart the Tigers’ offense.
Lassiter had a batting average of .455 to lead the Tigers’ offense ahead of the game with a seven-game hitting streak and .558 on-base percentage.
A stolen base would move Lassiter to second, then two batters later, a wild pitch would move her to third. Sophomore Tori Edwards was walked by South Alabama pitcher Ryley Harrison, which allowed LSU to have runners on the corners early in the game.
Sophomore Alix Franklin came to the plate first pitch swinging, knocking a ball through the right side to score Lassiter for the first run of the game.
Bases quickly loaded when an error by South Alabama’s shortstop allowed Char Lorenz to safely get to first as runners advanced. The Tigers would take a 2-0 advantage with an Ally Hutchins walk to knock in the second run.
To start the bottom of the second, Lassiter came home to tally one more run on an RBI single to left by Edwards that continued the night for the Tigers’ offense, leading 3-1.
Senior third baseman Avery Hodge was hit by a pitch and loaded the bases in the third inning for the Tigers again. Next up at the plate was none other than leadoff hitter Lassiter.
Lassiter batted in every single inning as the Tigers’ rotation kept going. With defensive errors from the Jaguars’ outfielders, Lassiter clobbered an in-the-park home run on Jaguar errors to allow all three runners on base to score, along with herself, to advance the LSU lead to 7-1 in only the bottom of the third.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something like that, honestly,” Torina said about the at-bat. “It was pretty cool. Jalia told us all that she felt extremely fast tonight. She was running all over the place.”
The third inning didn’t stop there.
An RBI triple by Franklin kept the Tigers’ momentum going. Three more runs were driven in to advance the Tigers’ lead to 10-1.
The third finally came to an end when Kylee Edwards flew out to right, but LSU scored seven runs on four hits to have a comfortable lead for Clopton entering the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, sophomore pitcher Jayden Heavener got a leadoff at-bat to continue the fun before a hit-by-pitch and two walks would load the bases for LSU once more in this distant game.
In the fifth, Paytn Monticelli stepped into the circle, looking to close out South Alabama in five innings and force a run rule.
“I’ve been a closer basically my entire career, so I like the vibe of coming in and being able to slam the door on the team, especially when it’s heated,” Monticelli said.
The first Jaguar batter she faced struck out swinging, but the second and third batters gave her a bit of trouble as the Jaguars had put runners on first and second.
After a lengthy at-bat, Monticelli would strike out South Alabama’s Reganied Franka, an out away from ending the game. The next batter drove in a single that gave the Jaguars one more run.
Nonetheless, Torina made the confident decision to let Monticelli record the last out. On a 1-2 count, Jaguars outfielder Kara Wine grounded out to second to hand the Tigers the run-rule victory and allow Monticelli to get out of the inning safely.
“We played much more like ourselves tonight,” Torina said. “It was nice to be back at Tiger Park in front of our fans.”
Tigers softball will continue this weekend when the team hosts the Purple & Gold Challenge, beginning with Michigan State at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Tiger Park.
