BATON ROUGE -- A pair of home runs and three errors by Princeton led the top-seeded LSU softball team over the fourth-seeded Tigers of Princeton, 5-0, on Friday evening at Tiger Park in the first round of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
With the win, the Fighting Tigers of LSU improved to 52-12 on the season and advance to face third-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at 1p.m. for the right to advance to the regional championship game on Sunday. ULL was a 2-0 winner over second-seeded NC State in the tournament's first game on Friday.
"It's a game with two great programs," LSU head coach Yvette Girouard said of LSU's match-up against Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday. "It will be a ton of fun in the stands and on the field. I am sure they will bring their 'A' game and the state of Louisiana can be proud of both teams."
The loss dropped Princeton to 34-18 on the year. The Tigers will face elimination against the Wolfpack at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of that game will face the loser of the LSU-ULL game on Saturday at 7 p.m. Sunday's championship game begins at 1 p.m. with an "if necessary" game to be played at 4 p.m.
The Fighting Tigers broke through with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, breaking up a perfect game by Princeton pitcher Erin Snyder. LSU used a two-out error to score a pair of runs before an RBI single by Stephanie Hill gave the Fighting Tigers the 3-0 lead.
"I thought it was a workman-like performance by the Tigers, which we have done many times this year," said Girouard. "Princeton kind of opened the door for us and we took full advantage of it. I thought we looked a little tight for the first three or four innings. We have five players on the field that have never experienced this (NCAA Regional) before, but those weren’t the ones that were tight."