Softball Falls in Game Two Against Florida, 6-1

Photo By: LSUsports.net

Da Boot Sports
4/30/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: Keonts Herrera


   BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 9/10 Florida (37-13, 12-11 SEC) hitters collected seven hits across the first three innings, as they posted a 6-1 win against No. 19 LSU (32-18, 11-9 SEC) Saturday at Tiger Park.
Florida scratched across two runs in the first with a home run to center field from right fielder Cheyenne Lindsey. Following two singles, left fielder Katie Kistler singled to the left side scoring the second run of the inning. 
The Gators tacked on a single run in the next four innings to bring the score to 6-0.
LSU's senior Shelbi Sunseri brought the Tigers within five in the bottom of the seventh after smoking a ball over the left field wall for her 14th home run this season. Sophomore Morgan Smith followed with a double a couple batters later to account for the two Tigers' hits.
Senior Shelby Wickersham (2-5) was charged with the loss after tossing one inning and giving two earned runs on five hits. Florida's Lexie Delbrey picked up the win, throwing six innings while only allowing one run.

Head Coach Beth Torina 
On her team's performance... 
"It was bad softball. We just did not play well at all. I mean, when you look at the scoreboard we allowed twelve hits, four errors, and had two hits on our side. It was just a poorly played game." 
On if her team got too comfortable after the win last night... 
"I think our offense got frustrated. I think they got frustrated early and did not have a great response to it and that leaked into everything we were doing. We need to get more outs on the mound ourselves. We need to force more swings and misses and attack hitters better to help our offense have some time. It felt like the lead just kept climbing and climbing." 

Pitcher/Utility Shelbi Sunseri 
On the difference between the first and second game of the series…   
“Honestly, it was lazy. I think we just came out and didn’t have a lot of effort. We made errors, and we just didn’t have a lot of energy. We didn’t play LSU softball like we normally do. Our thing is 'can’t be crazy here', and I definitely don’t think we brought that energy today, collectively. Really, I just think we played bad softball today.”  
On the possibility of getting comfortable from the game one win…  
“I don’t know that we got comfortable; we just didn’t just show up today. It could have been a lot of things. I think, collectively, our dugout wasn’t in it, people on the field weren’t in it. I think as a whole, we didn’t play well. We didn’t make the routine plays we should’ve made, and it spiraled from there.” 

​ON DECK
The Tigers return to the diamond Sunday for the rubber game of the SEC series. The matchup is set for an 11 a.m. CT start, and it can be viewed on ESPN2.

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