Two-Out Hits, Prince’s Complete Game Clinches Series at No. 8 LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. – Behind a
complete-game shutout from junior pitcher Meagan Prince and a clutch two-out
two-RBI single from senior Maisie Steed, the No. 15 Kentucky softball team
clinched a series win on the road in Baton Rouge for the first time in program history,
as the Wildcats downed the No. 8 Tiger, 3-0.
Prince got the win with another impressive performance
in the circle, to move her record to 15-2 on the year. Prince threw 116 pitches
in the game, with 79 of them recorded as strikes. The Martin, Tenn., native
went the distance allowing just five hits and three walks, with five
strikeouts. Her ERA now drops to 1.59 on the season. LSU’s Allie Walljasper
picked up the loss on Sunday night to drop to 6-5 overall on the season.
The win marks the third time this season that
Kentucky has won a road season, as Sunday’s win marks just the second time in
school history that UK has won three SEC series on the road in a single season
(at Mississippi State, at Missouri, at Ole Miss in 2014).
Kentucky improves to 33-8 in 2016 and 10-4 in
the Southeastern Conference. The Tigers, the No. 8 team in the nation, falls to
29-11 overall and 5-9 in the SEC.
The three-game series will conclude on Monday
night at 7 p.m. ET live on the SEC Network, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Women’s
College World Series announce pairing Adam Amin and Amanda Scarbrough will have
the call from Tiger Park.
Key Stat
Three. All three of Kentucky’s runs were
two-out RBI base hits. The Wildcats took the lead on a two-out RBI single from
Sylver Samuel, before senior Maisie Steed had a two-out, two-RBI single in the
seventh to give Prince some insurance going into the bottom of the seventh.
Key Play
In the top of the seventh with a 1-0 lead,
senior Maisie Steed stepped to the plate with runners on second and third and
hit a two-out single into shallow left field to score pinch runners Ansley
Smith and Erin Rethlake and give Kentucky a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of
the last inning.
Key Player
Sylver Samuel was the key player in the game
on Sunday night, clubbing two hits, including the first at-bat of the game.
Samuel had Kentucky’s game-winning hit on Saturday in the series opener, and
was critical in Sunday’s series clincher.
Run Recap
With two outs in the top of the third inning
in a scoreless game, Maisie Steed stepped to the plate for the first time in
the game and was issued a walk by Allie Walljasper to put a runner on first.
After a wild pitch advanced Steed to second, Samuel stepped to the plate and
singled into shallow center to score Steed and give UK the lead in the third. UK
1, LSU 0
Breanne Ray and Jenny Schaper both singled
with two outs in the top of the seventh to put two runners on with two down. The
runners were advanced to second and third, as Steed stepped to the plate with
two outs in a 1-0 game. Steed then roped a single into shallow left to score
pinch runners Ansley Smith and Erin Rethlake and make it a 3-0 game before
Meagan Prince closed out the game in the bottom of the seventh. FINAL – No.
15 Kentucky 3, No. 8 LSU 0
For
the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram
and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
