It wasn’t exactly like getting to the Final Four but the LSU softball program had a pretty good weekend, too.
Coach Beth Torina’s team bounced back after losing the opener Friday at Ole Miss to win its second SEC series in three tries with a 3-1 victory against the Rebels. LSU (25-6, 4-5 in SEC play) now sits eighth in the league standings but looks like it is riding some momentum, although not nearly as much as the women’s basketball team, which is back in the Final Four for the sixth time.
On top of rebounding from being throttled by Tennessee in a sweep at home the previous weekend, the Tigers’ All-American shortstop Taylor Pleasants’ return to action coincided with the two victories.
Pleasants went 0 for 3 in the two games combined and batted seventh rather than her usual spot in the 3-hole, but her presence provided a lift for the Tigers’ struggling offense.
The heavy lifting was spread around on offense, but freshman Sydney Berzon carried a heavy load in the circle. Berzon, a two-time Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year, has become the staff ace. She improved her record to 9-2 with complete game victories Saturday and Sunday, and lowered her ERA to 1.49.
On Saturday, Berzon beat the Rebels 2-0 with her third shutout and fifth complete game, allowing three hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts. She followed that up with a five-hitter Sunday in a 3-1 victory in which she scattered five hits, walked one and struck out three.
Offense was hard to come by for the Tigers, but first baseman Raeleen Gutierrez was a constant. She went 4 for 8 for the weekend with three RBIs. She knocked in two runs in the decisive Sunday victory, giving LSU a 1-0 lead with a run-scoring single in the second inning. When Ole Miss tied it in the bottom half, she came up with another clutch base hit to give LSU the lead right back in the third.
Berzon held the Rebels scoreless the rest of the way, then LSU did what good teams do — adding an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning. Georgia Clark, known as one of LSU’s top power hitters, laid down an excellent squeeze bunt to score Danieca Coffey, who slid in just ahead of the throw to the plate.
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