The Tiger offense is shutout for the second game in a row
LSU’s 2024 season came to a disappointing end as the Tigers were shutout by Stanford 8-0 in the decisive game three of its Super Regional series.
After winning game one of the series 11-0, LSU wouldn’t score a run in the final two games of the series. Stanford ace NiJaree Canady redeemed herself in a massive way with back-to-back complete game shutouts.
The first half of Sunday’s game was shaping up to be an epic pitcher’s duel between Canady and Sydney Berzon. Both pitchers had shutouts going through the first four innings, and the Cardinal and Tiger defense each made critical plays at the plate to keep runs from scoring.
LSU’s best chance at scoring came in the fifth inning. The Tigers had the bases loaded with one out when McKenzie Redoutey flew out to left field. Stanford, who had the outfield playing shallow, was able to throw out Savanna Bedell at home who was attempting to tag in from third.
That momentum swing changed the entire game for Stanford. The Cardinal would go on to score seven runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning—six of them coming with two outs. It should be noted that LSU was victimized by an awful missed call by the umpires that totally changed the tenor of Sunday’s game.
With two outs and runners on the corners, a ball hit the leg of Stanford’s Kyra Chan but the officials missed it. Beth Torina was out of challenges and because the play happened in the fifth inning, rather than the sixth, replay could not be initiated. So LSU should have gotten out of that fifth inning down only 1-0, instead things snowballed and by the time the Tigers got the third out it was 7-0 Stanford.
But whining about one call doesn’t excuse the fact that LSU had two chances to win one game and couldn’t put up a single run in either contest. After tying a season-best with 16 hits on Friday, the Tigers put up a total of five hits on Saturday and Sunday. That lost LSU the Super Regional, not one blown call.
This weekend against the Cardinal is sort of the perfect metaphor for LSU softball: a great start followed by a bitterly disappointing end. LSU got off to a 24-0 start and was the last undefeated team in the country!….and then they went 12-12 in the SEC. The Tigers run ruled Stanford to win game one of the Supers!…and then they got outscored 12-0 over the last two games of the series. Good…but not good enough. That’s LSU softball.
I have no idea where this program goes from here. The Tigers last made it to OKC seven years ago and Beth Torina’s won the SEC regular season/SEC Tournament as many times as I have. Life is only going to get more difficult for her once Texas and Oklahoma join the conference next season. If you haven’t been paying attention, Texas is the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s tournament, meanwhile Oklahoma’s trying to win its fourth straight national championship.
See y’all in February.