LSU softball pitching shows quality and depth during stingy weekend at Tiger Park

The LSU softball team put up 47 runs in its first five games, but five would have been enough with the way the pitching staff performed.

The Tigers (5-0) picked up two more shutouts on Saturday by beating Pittsburgh 7-0 and Memphis 8-0 in the final two games of the LSU Invitational at Tiger Park. That extends the team’s shutout streak to five in a row, two short of the school record set in 2006.

Emilee Casanova pitched a two-hit shutout in the five-inning mercy-rule finish against Memphis, and Rae Chaffin shut down Pittsburgh on three hits. The LSU bats were not quite as explosive as the night before but the defense was error-free and helped the pitchers out of tight spots.

“Five different arms, too,” LSU coach Beth Torina mused afterward. “If we were concerned about our depth, we can feel a little better about it going into next week.

“Five shutouts is shocking for anybody; the staff did a really good job. Am I surprised to see them execute and pitch well? I’m not. I’m a big believer in what we have on this staff.”

Sydney Berzon shut out Nicholls State on Thursday, and Emma Strood and Kelley Lynch blanked Memphis and Pittsburgh, respectively, on Friday.

It was the second career shutout for Chaffin, who was far from perfect. She hit three batters and walked two in seven innings. But each time Pittsburgh threatened to score, she came up with big outs — including seven via strikeouts.

Two of Chaffin’s strikeouts came in the second inning with runners on second and third. In the third inning, she got a strikeout and a pop fly with runners on the corners. And with two runners on in the seventh, she coaxed a groundout from Mary Hamilton to end the game.

“I thought my off-speed stuff kept them off balance, and my rise, they were chasing a lot of the high pitches,” said Chaffin, who threw 115 pitches. “Hannah Carson, our catcher, she talked the entire game, calming my nerves, telling me she had my back. That’s huge for a pitcher.”

The LSU offense was stymied at times but got a sacrifice fly by Taylor Pleasants and a run-scoring single by Ali Newland in the first inning to give Chaffin a cushion. Karli Petty hit another sacrifice fly in the fourth before LSU scored four times in the sixth.

Petty knocked in a run with a bases-loaded single and two more came in on walks to Ciara Briggs and Pleasants. Newland capped the scoring with another sacrifice fly.

Casanova struck out five and walked three, all in one inning with nobody out. But she pitched through the inning, getting a pop fly to right field, a shortstop-to-home force play and strikeout of Aubrey Williams to end the threat.

“It was exciting. I was excited to be back out there,” said Casanova, who was making her third career start. “It feels like it’s been a long time. It was a great weekend for all the pitchers.

“It’s (getting five shutouts) amazing, not common. It’s something everyone should look for this year because this staff has done a really great job.”

LSU had only five hits but worked Memphis pitchers for nine walks. Raeleen Gutierrez got it started with a two-run single in the first inning. The Tigers put up five runs in the third with two hits, four walks and a hit batter.

“We did a good job offensively of finding ways on base,” Torina said. “It wasn’t so flashy in the last couple of games. We took a lot of walks, and when we did have a hit scored multiple runs and were able to put up crooked numbers in a lot of different innings.”