BATON ROUGE, La. — Sydney Springfield hit a two-run home run, and junior right-hander Carley Hoover allowed only four hits in relief to lead the No. 13 seed and No. 18 LSU softball team to a 5-1 victory against No. 14 Louisiana in the final game of the NCAA tournament’s Baton Rouge Regional at Tiger Park.
The win pushes LSU (45-19) into the super regionals, where it will face No. 4 seed Florida State in Tallahassee, Florida. Game 1 of that best-of-three series will be at 4 p.m. Friday (ESPNU). The winner will advance to the Women’s College World Series, which will be June 1-8 in Oklahoma City.
LSU won its 12th NCAA Regional in 18 appearances, marking its third-straight regional championship, and fifth under coach Beth Torina.
The victory enabled all 16 national seeds to advance to the super regionals for the first time in history.
Hoover (14-6) notched her third win of the regional. She fired five shutout innings of four-hit softball. She struck out three and walked one.
Junior Allie Walljasper started the game for the Tigers, pitched two innings and allowed one run on three hits, walking one.
The loss was charged to Alex Stewart (27-5). She threw 3 1.3 innings and allowed five runs–three earned–on seven hits.
Center fielder Emily Griggs was 10-for-12 in the tournament. At one point, the junior had a hit in 10 consecutive at-bats, dating from her last at-bat Friday night to her second to last at-bat Monday afternoon.
“I think the past few days has just been a testament to how tough this team is,” Torina said. “What they have been through in the last few days is just unreal when you think about the hours and what they had to endure. I couldn’t be prouder of them. I think it’s amazing that you can think about legends and the legacy they created this weekend.”
The Ragin’ Cajuns (47-8) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. With runners on first and second and one out, shortstop DJ Sanders, a former standout at New Hope High School in Columbus, doubled to center field to drive in third baseman Kara Gremillion. After loading the bases with two outs, Walljasper worked her way out of further trouble.
With no outs and runners on first and second in the top of the third, LSU moved to its bullpen for Carley Hoover, who struck out the first batter and induced a 4-3 double play to work out of the jam, holding the score at 1-0 Cajuns.
Shortstop Amber Serrett led off the bottom of the third with a double to left-center. Left fielder Aliyah Andrews followed with a bunt single to third base to put runners on the corners with no outs, and when Andrews stole second, Serrett scored from third on the error by the shortstop to knot the game. Griggs then singled to left field to score Andrews.
With one out in the fourth, second baseman Constance Quinn singled to left field. Springfield, the designated player, rocked a two-run blast to left field for her team-best 10th home run.
Louisiana finished the season in the NCAA tournament for the 19th consecutive season. The squad claimed the program’s fourth consecutive Sun Belt Conference championship, extended the string of 40-win seasons to 19 straight, and had the program competing for an NCAA Regional championship for the 10th consecutive year.
Sanders’ double was her 42nd extra base hit of the season (13 doubles, 29 home runs).
n Ole Miss, Alabama set for super regionals: At Los Angeles, the Ole Miss and Alabama softball teams are gearing up for their appearances in the NCAA tournament’s Super Regionals.
No. 12 Ole Miss will take on No. 5 UCLA in Game 1 of their best-of-three series at 8 p.m. Thursday (ESPN). Game 2 Friday will be at 8 p.m. (ESPNU).
UCLA (45-13) enters the weekend winners of six-straight after sweeping Lehigh, San Jose State, and Cal State Fullerton in their NCAA Regional last weekend.
Ole Miss (43-18) also swept its NCAA Regional, defeating Southern Illinois, No. 22 Arizona State, and North Carolina.
No. 16 seed Alabama (45-16) will face No. 1 seed Florida (53-7) at 6 p.m. Thursday (ESPN) in their best-of-three series at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
Florida beat Oklahoma State 5-0 to win the Gainesville Regional, while Alabama beat top-ranked Minnesota 1-0 to win the Tuscaloosa Regional. It was the Crimson Tide’s second 1-0 win against the Golden Gophers in the regional.
This will be the first time the programs will meet in the NCAA Super Regional round, but it will be the fifth time overall in the NCAA tournament.
The Gators and Crimson Tide met all five times at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
The last time the two met in the NCAA tournament was in the 2014 WCWS Championship series, when Florida defeated Alabama 5-0 and 6-3 to claim the program’s first national championship.
Game 2 will start at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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