LSU Rallies for 7-5 Walk-Off Victory Over NC State in Dramatic Finish
LSU Steals One in Baton Rouge
After being run-ruled by the No. 16/13 LSU Tigers on Thursday night, 11-3, the North Carolina State Wolfpack returned tonight with a great plan at the plate and good stuff in the circle. However, in this great game of softball, there is no time clock, and it’s not over until the last out is recorded or run.
To start it all off, NC State opened up with two runs in the first. LSU came out with Cece Cellura, and the Wolfpack immediately attacked. Maia Townsend and Carly Short took back to back singles, and Kendall Simmers walked to load the bases before a Hannah Church 2-RBI single.
The Pack went with Wynne Gore in the circle, and Gore was able to work through counts and some walks. In her first three innings, she gave up one run on three hits, tossed four strikeouts, but allowed five walks. LSU had trouble making her pay for the walks, and Gore would do a good job of forcing ground outs to get out of any issues.
I asked Coach Leftwich afterwards on Gore’s walks, and she gave credit to the caliber of hitters LSU has. You can’t just serve up strikes to them.
“I think the one thing that you have to do with a team that’s offensively as good as LSU, I think you have to throw some balls and you have to expand the zone enough,” said Leftwich. “And so we were fine with her walking some people and we were fine with her doing some of those things because she put us in a spot to be successful and to win there.”
NC State would use a top half of the third to push across three more runs to take a 5-0 lead, with RBIs from Marbury, Livingston, and Montes de Oca. Cellura just had trouble finding a spot, and with one on and one out, the Pack were able to connect for more. Morgen Talley used a seven pitch at bat and singled, then MaKayla Marbury shot an RBI double to left to score Simmers.
That would be it for Cellura, and after Tatum Clopton took the circle, NC State would score two more that Cellura was responsible for.
Cellura is a good pitcher, but tonight she didn’t locate well and NC State was smart at the plate.
“Cece’s really good. She does a great job of using her rise ball. I think she didn’t locate well early, and my team did a great job of making good decisions. Our swing decisions put us in spots and good counts to be able to get good swings off,” said Leftwich. “And that’s such a huge part of this game. Sometimes it’s not the pitches you swing at, it’s the pitches you don’t, and I thought they did a great job of taking borderline pitches and hammering strikes. And we did exactly what we were supposed to do. We got to her early.”
In the bottom of the third inning, with a 5-0 lead, Gore gave up one run with Tori Edwards coming in on a Kylee Edwards RBI single. LSU threatened with two in scoring position with one out, but Gore once again answered with a strikeout and an Alix Franklin groundout to get out of harm’s way.
Ahead to the bottom of the fifth, a newcomer to the LSU Tigers squad would record her first homer in Baton Rouge. Ally Hutchins, a Kentucky transfer, caught a Gore pitch just right and sent it over the left field wall to cut NC State’s lead to 5-2. That was the first big mistake of the night for Gore, and overall she did a decent job of mixing speeds tonight and choosing spots. It wasn’t the prettiest outing, but it worked.
The Wolfpack’s defense behind Gore was solid. They came up with some great plays and ended some Tiger threats with runners on. Leftwich spoke about her infield throughout the offseason, speaking on their quick work and strong arms to make the play. Livingston and Short showed that all evening in this game. Tonight, freshman catcher Carmen Montes de Oca started behind the plate and showed that she was up for it.
“I thought all four of our freshman defenders played great. Lily and Carly are doing a great job on the left side. Morgen’s filling in on the mound and obviously at first and then Carmen caught our first game, got her first start behind the plate tonight. And I think that all of them are locked in and ready,” said Leftwich.
“They’re willing to do the work and they’re willing to be coached. We talked about that early on in the fall that we were going to play better defense than we ever played before and I think they’re proving us right.”
On the LSU front, Clopton was what the Tigers needed. Other than the runs given that were tacked on to Cellura’s stat line, she had stifled the Wolfpack bats. In her 4.2 innings pitched, she struck out six Wolfpack batters and issued two walks. She did her part to hold NC State in hopes the Tigers offense could make a comeback.
“Tatum came in and did a really good job and elevated. It took us a while to figure out what we wanted to do with her. We needed to make an adjustment faster on her and I think we probably ended up on a different side of that game,” Leftwich said afterwards.
In the bottom of the seventh with the Wolfpack still up 5-2, Tori Edwards brought life back to the Tigers with a leadoff triple. Gore had pitched a good game, and after six innings, that was it for her.
Lindsay Leftwich then went to Rylee Wyman, but after a Hutchins walk to put runners on the corners with no outs, NC State went to the freshman Morgen Talley. This was a huge spot for Talley to come in and try to protect the lead. With Kylee Edwards up to bat, Talley would send a wild pitch to the backstop and T. Edwards would score to pull within two runs.
This is where this team had to learn quickly how to finish and win these types of games, but things got even more interesting. With Char Lorenz up with an 0-2 count, she would take a hit by pitch to put two on, and then Alix Franklin smacked one to the left field wall for an RBI double to cut NC State’s lead to 5-4.
Destiny Harris came in to pinch run for Lorenz, and another wild pitch from Talley would bring Harris home for the tying run. Franklin would advance to third, and LSU all of a sudden would stand sixty feet away from completing a comeback win.
After a Hodge ground out, Jalia Lassiter would take a 3-1 pitch to left field and out of Tiger Park for a walk-off two-run shot to give LSU a 7-5 win. In an instant, a game that was in NC State’s control slipped away. This game counts as a loss in the record books and on the scoreboard, but the lessons taken away from tonight and the confidence built through 90 percent of this game can do just as much if not more good for the Pack going forward this season.
“I think they get to be mad for a minute, and then we get to go back to work and we get to be confident in what we put up here. Then I think it also prepares us for five really good teams next week,” Leftwich said. “We play five teams that are virtually in the top 25, some in the top 10. And I think this should just help us build from a confident space and stack some bricks to continue to move in a good direction.”
Lessons and confidence built, and same thing for LSU. Tonight, they showed that you have to finish them off when you get the chance.
