BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU beat No. 20 South Alabama softball 6-1 on Wednesday night in the Jaguars’ final nonconference game of the regular season.
The five-run margin was South Alabama’s largest of the season. The Jaguars fell to 34-10 and have lost seven of their last 12 games.
Early Walks Prove Costly
Freshman Holly McKinnon made her third start of the season and walked the first four batters she faced. LSU added a run on a sacrifice fly and another on a two-out RBI double to lead 3-0 after one inning.
McKinnon took her first loss of the season. She allowed four earned runs on four hits and six walks with two strikeouts in four innings.
Rathburn Drives In Lone Run
South Alabama scored in the top of the fourth when Chloe Rathburn’s sacrifice fly brought home pinch runner Gwen Jones. LSU answered in the bottom of the inning with another two-out RBI double.
The Tigers added two unearned runs in the sixth. Kaitlyn Griffith could not handle a flip from Taylor Rodgers at second base on what would have been the second out, and LSU followed with a two-out single to third and a single to left-center.
Senior Hannah Campbell pitched two innings of relief, allowing two unearned runs on three hits and hitting four batters.
LSU (28-20) outhit South Alabama 7-3. Each team committed one error.
Up Next
South Alabama travels to Western Kentucky for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series Saturday and Sunday, its final regular-season road series.
