UK home runs doom LSU
State college softball
e_SDLqIt’s a pride thing at this point about not getting swept. We need a win to hold onto our seeding in next week’s SEC tournament.” BETH Torina, LSU softball coach
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Brittany Cervantes and Ginny Carroll each hit solo home runs as the Kentucky softball team edged LSU 2-1 Saturday in the second game of a three-game Southeastern Conference series.
Cervantes’s home run led off the bottom of the first inning and was her 12th of the season.
LSU tied the game at 1-1 on Cassie Trosclair’s two-out RBI single in the third, but Carroll hit her seventh home run of the season, going over the center field wall in the fifth inning to give UK (28-27, 14-13 SEC) what proved to be the winning run.
LSU (34-20, 15-12), which outhit UK 6-4 and stranded seven on base, had the go-ahead runner into scoring position in the seventh inning but was unable to complete the comeback effort. LSU left five of those seven runners in scoring position.
The Wildcats secured their first series win over LSU, which was 35-3 against UK entering the series.
Pinch hitter Simone Heyward began the seventh-inning rally with a leadoff single through the middle. She moved to second base on pinch hitter Kailey McCasland’s sacrifice bunt.
After Dylan Supak walked, Kentucky turned its bullpen. Chanda Bell entered the game and forced Ashley Langoni to foul out for the second out.
After Heyward and pinch runner Heidi Pizer executed a double steal, Trosclair knocked a groundout to second base and was thrown out at first base to end the game as Bell earned her third save.
“Our offense swung well and was able to outhit them,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “Unfortunately, we were unable to get that timely hit.
“We made some moves in the lineup. Maybe that wasn’t the right combination. I felt like we needed to shake things up a bit. We’ll do something different tomorrow, and do whatever it takes to find the winning combination.”
LSU’s Brittany Mack (14-10) struck out nine while allowing four hits and three walks.
UK’s Rachel Riley (8-7) scattered six hits and surrendered one run in 6.1 innings.
The teams close the seires with a game at noon Sunday.
“It’s a pride thing at this point about not getting swept,” Torina said. “We need a win to hold onto our seeding in next week’s SEC tournament. The bottom line is, we have to swing better, pitch better and play a better overall softball game.”