BATON ROUGE, La. – Over 20 hours after it started, No. 7 Texas softball (10-0) finished off Friday's night series opener by scoring three times in the top of the seventh to take the series opener from No. 13/12 LSU at Tiger Park (11-6), 8-5.
Redshirt junior designated player Taylor Ellsworth delivered the key hit in the top of the seventh by lacing a two-strike, two-out, two-RBI single to left center to break a 5-5 tie.
Important Notes
- With the victory, Texas has now won six straight games against teams ranked in either the NFCA or USA Softball polls at game time.
- With a first-inning leadoff single, junior second baseman Janae Jefferson reached base safely for the 27th consecutive game. That tied former Longhorns standout Taylor Hoagland for the fourth-longest streak in program history.
- Texas has now hit 19 HR's through its first 10 games of 2021. The Longhorns bashed just 24 total HR's over 27 games during their shortened 2020 campaign.
- Senior outfielder Shannon Rhodes' third-inning HR was her fifth over Texas' last five games. The Fort Worth, Texas, native is currently tied with Mary Iakopo for the team lead with six HR's and leads the offense with 16 RBIs.
- Junior third baseman Mary Iakopo has now reached base safely in a career-best-tying 13 straight contests, while sophomore catcher Colleen Sullivan and freshman shortstop Alyssa Washington have reached in nine and eight consecutive games, respectively.
- By putting up a four-spot in the third inning, Texas has now outscored its 10 opponents by a combined total of 58-7 over the opening three frames in 2021.
Major Players
Sophomore catcher Colleen Sullivan (2-for-2, double, two RBIs); redshirt junior designated player Taylor Ellsworth (1-for-1, run, two RBIs); junior second baseman Janae Jefferson (2-for-5, RBI); senior center fielder Shannon Rhodes (1-for-4, run, HR, RBI); freshman shortstop Alyssa Washington (1-for-3, run, walk, HR, RBI); Freshman right fielder Jordyn Whitaker (1-for-2, RBI).
In the Circle
Graduate transfer Molly Jacobsen improved to 4-0 in the circle by allowing just one unearned run on two hits with four K's over 1.1 innings. Sophomore Shea O'Leary started and permitted four earned runs on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts over 5.2 frames.
The Details
After Texas missed an early scoring chance by leaving two stranded in the top of the first, the Tigers wasted no time jumping on the scoreboard in the bottom half. Center fielder Aliyah Andrews kicked off LSU's first at-bat by tripling to the wall in left center. Shortstop Taylor Pleasants followed by driving the first pitch up the middle for a RBI and a quick 1-0 lead. The Tigers eventually loaded the bases, but O'Leary got a big strikeout of left fielder Ciara Briggs before inducing a pop-up to end the frame with minimal damage.
LSU nearly added another in the bottom of the second as the Tigers got a leadoff single from second baseman Taylor Tidwell and advanced her to third with one down. The dangerous Andrews stepped up and hit a sinking liner to left. Kaitlyn Washington raced in from her defensive position and managed a running grab before firing a strike to the plate to prevent a potential sac fly. From there, O'Leary induced a fly out to center to leave the runner stranded 60 feet from pay dirt.
Texas' offense got rolling in the top of the third as Rhodes kicked-off a four-run outburst by lining her sixth HR of the season over the wall in center. The Longhorns then packed the bags with one out as junior first baseman Lauren Burke singled to center, junior third baseman Mary Iakopo battled to draw a 10-pitch walk and senior left fielder Kaitlyn Washington singled to center. That set the stage for Sullivan, as the sophomore catcher lined a two-run double off the glove of diving LSU center fielder Aliyah Andrews in left center for a 3-1 lead. A Jordyn Whitaker sacrifice fly to left brought home Washington as the Longhorns made it 4-1.
O'Leary really settled in during the bottom of the third as the Castaic, Calif., native needed just three total pitches to retire Amanda Doyle, Shelbi Sunseri and Georgia Clark in batting order spots 3, 4 and 5.
The Tigers broke up a streak of eight straight batters retired by O'Leary with two outs in the fourth as Tidwell drew a walk. As rain began to fall at Tiger Park, UT's hurler got right fielder Ali Newman to fly out harmlessly to right center to leave the runner stranded.
At 7:34 p.m. CT, with one out in the top of the fifth, the contest entered a 34-minute lightning delay. Out of the break, Sullivan wasted no time ripping a single to left center although Texas wouldn't add to its advantage in the frame.
Back in the circle for the first time in approximately 45 minutes, O'Leary walked leadoff batter Andrews. That free pass didn't faze the sophomore hurler, however, as she responded with three consecutive K's to leave another LSU runner stranded.
Alyssa Washington quickly added another to Texas' total as the freshman shortstop drove the first pitch of the sixth well over the wall in center to make it 5-1.
LSU chased O'Leary with two down in the bottom of the sixth as Tidwell and Newland hit back-to-back HR's to cut the Tiger deficit to 5-4. Jacobsen entered the circle in relief and immediately coerced a bouncer that was misplayed for an error. That proved to be an important miscue as consecutive singles from Pleasants and Doyle tied the game at 5-5.
After consecutive Iakopo and Kaitlyn Washington walks to begin the seventh, the skies over Tiger Park opened up again as the contest entered another delay as of 9:06 p.m. CT. The decision was soon made to end play for Friday night and resume action on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.
Once the teams returned on a bright, sunny Saturday, Texas immediately sacrificed the runners over into scoring position. Following a strikeout, Ellsworth battled to a 1-2 count before driving a two-run single just over short and all the way to the wall in left center to hand the Longhorns back the advantage at 7-5. Jefferson followed by chopping a ball up the middle that was tracked down on a dive by shortstop Pleasants. The play went down as a RBI single as Ellsworth raced all the way around from second and just beat a tag attempt at the plate to make it 8-5.
Jacobsen shut the door on the Tigers completely in the bottom of the seventh as the graduate transfer struck out the side to seal the Texas win.
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March 07, 2021 at 04:20AM
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No. 7 Softball finishes off delayed game with 8-5 win over No. 13/12 LSU - TexasSports.com
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