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Eight-Run Third Inning Vaults LSU Softball Past Mississippi State 

        

BATON ROUGE, La. – Dylan Supak provided a 2-for-4 performance, and the go-ahead two-run single during an eight-run third inning as the LSU softball turned the tables to pick up a 10-7 victory over Mississippi State Friday to open a three-game SEC weekend series at Tiger Park.

LSU (17-8, 2-1 SEC) extended its winning streak to 18 games over Mississippi State (17-10, 3-5 SEC) dating back to the 2005 season.

“It was nice to see us continue to score and keep putting the pressure on [after the third inning],” head coach Beth Torina said. “I thought Jacee Blades really stepped up for us tonight filling in at centerfield. Heidi Pizer earned that start tonight [at first base]. She’s been doing a lot of things really well in practice – she’s been working really hard. So I thought she deserved that opportunity tonight, and she proved me right. All of her work definitely paid off.”

Rachele Fico grinded out six-plus innings of work and surrendered just two earned runs on eight hits. She notched four strikeouts against four walks and improved to 8-4 on the season.

Kylie Vry was touched up for seven runs on seven hits in her two-plus frames of action and fell to 5-4.

“It’s funny how things work out,” Torina said. “We just talked about how Rachele had great stuff on Wednesday against Auburn and doesn’t get the win. Tonight, she maybe didn’t have her best stuff but still found a way to win. And I think that’s the sign of a good pitcher – even when you don’t have your best stuff, you still find a way to win.”

Down 4-1 in the third inning, the Tigers sent 12 batters to the dish and were ignited by Heidi Pizer, Ashley Applegate and Jacee Blades consecutive singles to fill the bases. A Vry illegal pitch made it 4-2 before an Ashley Langoni walk reloaded the bases.

Allison Falcon ripped a RBI single to left field to pull LSU back to within 4-3 before Dylan Supak deposited a 1-0 offering for a two-run single to vault the Tigers to a 5-4 edge.

The Bulldogs turned to Lindsey Dunlap out of the bull pen. She proceeded to plunk Kailey McCasland, Tammy Wray and Morgan Russell in succession to allow LSU to grab a 7-4 advantage.

Two batters later, MSU second baseman Heidi Shape committed a two-base error to cap the frame and extend the Tigers lead to 9-4.

“Coach [Torina] always says we need to have an answer for them,” Supak said. “If the other team comes out and has a good inning, then we’ll come out and have a better inning. And I feel like tonight we definitely had that answer that Coach [Torina] is talking about. Hitting is contagious. When you see a couple of people get on before you, you have that much more confidence when you get in the [batter’s] box.”

LSU added another run during the fifth inning and went ahead 10-4 on a Langoni bases loaded free pass.

The Bulldogs received RBI singles from Jessica Offutt and Kaili Smith in the sixth inning to slice the LSU advantage down to 10-6. MSU tacked on another run during the seventh inning and had the tying run on deck.

Brittany Mack entered the game in relief and recorded consecutive strikeouts to secure the 10-7 victory. For Mack, it was her third career save. The two Ks also allowed the senior right-hander to surpass Cody Trahan for fifth place on the program’s all-time strikeout list.   

“Before I went out there, I went to [Rachele] Fico and told her that this one was going to be for her,” Mack said. “She worked her butt off all game long, and she definitely deserved this win. I was going to make sure she got it.”

Mississippi State struck for a quartet of unearned runs aided by three LSU errors during the first two innings to race out to a 4-1 spread. The Tigers scored their run in the home half of first inning as Applegate connected for a leadoff single, went to second base on a passed ball, moved to third base on a Blades ground out and crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

“Come out with a little bit better defense,” Supak said. “We’d like to come out with an errorless ball game. I think that would be a really good goal to come out with. We just need to keep swinging like we have and keep pitching the way we are because our pitchers are doing something right.”

Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. with live video, live audio and live stats inside the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. The game also will be carried live Country Legends 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area with Patrick Wright and Kent Low set to call the action.

Fans also can follow every pitch of LSU softball this season via live in-game updates on LSU softball's social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and @lsu_softball on Twitter.
 
LSU will honor 18 former Alumnae leading into Saturday's middle game. The first 1,000 fans will receive a LSU drawstring bag and green K cards.

As part of Brittany Mack's "Geaux Play" initiative, LSU softball is encouraging fans to share the gift of sports with special needs children. Fans can donate new or gently used sports equipment during the remaining LSU softball home games at Tiger Park. For more information, visit LSUsports.net/geauxplay.

All items collected will be given directly to the Miracle League Association and six local schools that Mack will visit during the season. At LSU's series finale versus Ole Miss on April 22, Mack will invite all the children to the game as her special VIP guests for "Geaux Play" day at Tiger Park.



 

 

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