BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU's Karli Petty hit a walk-off three run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to help the No. 6 Tigers spoil Southeastern Louisiana University's upset bid in nonconference softball action Wednesday night at Tiger Park.
The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for Southeastern (33-8). The Lady Lions led throughout the game and took their last lead on an RBI double by
Lexi Johnson in the top of the eighth inning.
LSU (32-6) was down to its last out after
Colleen Kulivan robbed Taylor Pleasants of a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Southeastern ace
Cera Blanchard (13-2) walked Raeleen Gutierrez, then gave up a single to McKenzie Redoutey before Petty lined a shot over the left centerfield fence for the victory.
It was only Blanchard's second loss of the season and first since a 2-0 loss at Ole Miss back on March 1. The winner of her last 10 decisions prior to Wednesday, Blanchard leads the Southland Conference in wins, saves, earned run average and opposing batting average.
Johnson,
Maria Detillier and
Cam Goodman each had two hits to lead Southeastern at the plate. Both Detillier and Goodman homered against the nationally-ranked Tigers.
Detillier gave Southeastern the lead in the top of the third inning. After singles by
Ka'Lyn Watson and
Chloe Magee put a pair on, the Gramercy, Louisiana native deposited her third home run of the season over the left field fence to put SLU up, 3-0.
Southeastern chased LSU starter Kelley Lynch from the game in the top of the fourth inning. Goodman lined a two-out home run over the right field fence to stake the Lady Lions to a 4-0 lead.
Allison Brunson and
Ellie DuBois kept the Tigers off the board until LSU scratched across a pair in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Pleasants powered a solo home run over the right field fence to cut the Lady Lion lead to 4-1. Another run would come in later in the inning on a RBI groundout by Petty, but an inning-ending strikeout by Blanchard kept the Lady Lion lead at 4-2.
Southeastern maintained the two-run advantage until the bottom of the seventh inning. An RBI single by Petty and a sacrifice fly by Maci Bergeron tied the score at 4-4 and forced extra innings.
SLU retook the lead in the top of the eighth inning. Detillier led off the inning with a single, then scored on a two-out double to the right centerfield gap by Johnson off LSU's Raelin Chaffin (10-2) to give Southeastern a 5-4 lead before LSU rallied in the bottom of the frame.
Southeastern will return home to host Northwestern State in the Cypress Trophy Series. The SLC three-game set, which will be televised on ESPN+, opens with a 4 p.m. doubleheader Friday and concludes with a noon contest Saturday.
Following Saturday's series finale, Southeastern will honor the 2024 senior class of Johnson, DuBois, Blanchard, Goodman,
Mary-Cathryn (MC) Comeaux,
Audrey Greely,
Bailey Krolczyk,
Ka'Lyn Watson Sadie Hewitt and
Sophia Stoddard. Fans will also have the chance to win prizes by playing Saturday Bingo.
The Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office will be accepting donations to the Lion Food Pantry through Friday this week and is collecting ramen noodles, rice, pasta and granola bars. Anyone who donates will receive a free ticket to either the April 23 softball doubleheader or the baseball contests on April 23 or 24.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Softball, follow @LionUpSoftball on X and Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook.
HOME RUN CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the softball program are encouraged to join the Home Run Club. Lady Lion softball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
All membership fees and donations to both the Home Run Club and S Club (softball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern softball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit
www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern offers mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has a clear bag policy for all ticketed events. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit
www.LionSports.net/clear.
