Daily Reveille

Issue date: 5/5/08 Section: Sports Update

Thursday was a crazy day of Southeastern Conference tournament action in Tiger Park.

In the second of the day's four games, No. 1-seed Florida, which entered the tournament with only two losses, barely squeaked past No. 8-seed Ole Miss, 1-0.

And in the next game, No. 2-seed Alabama needed an RBI by junior center fielder Brittany Rogers in the bottom of the seventh inning to advance past No. 7-seed Mississippi State, 1-0.

But the nightcap between No. 3 LSU and No. 6 Auburn provided some normalcy, as the host team kept the seedings true to form and defeated Auburn for the fourth time this season, 4-0, in front of 1,224 fans.

Sophomore Cody Trahan was not dominant in the circle but did enough to pick up her 18th win of the season. The Little Cypress, Texas, native gave up two hits and struck out eight batters while walking five.

"She's been money for us since she's had to be the No. 1 [pitcher]."

Trahan had to step into the No. 1 spot after a wrist injury to junior pitcher Dani Hofer. Hofer, who is 18-7 this season, has not pitched since the Tennessee series April 19.

LSU seniors Shannon Stein, Quinlan Duhon and Tayl'r Hollis picked up all of LSU's four hits in the game. Stein got the scoring started in the third inning with an inside-the-park home run - her third homer of the season.

"I was just praying it was going to stay fair," Stein said of her third-inning shot to left field. "I was just trying to get on base and start something for the team. I saw the ball bounce off the top of the yellow [line] and go one direction, and I was like 'OK. I'm scoring.' My adrenaline was pumping. I looked kind of fast out there."

Girouard said Stein has become more aggressive since she moved the second baseman up in the batting order.

"Since we moved Stein up to that second hole, it's looked like its paid dividends for us."

Duhon, who was the only Tiger with more than one hit, kept the scoring going in the third inning by singling in sophomore right fielder Rachel Mitchell and pushing LSU's lead to 2-0.

After senior Erika Sluss walked in the fourth inning, Hollis hit an RBI-triple to make the score 3-0. Hollis then scored her 25th run of the season on a wild pitch to give LSU a four-run lead.

All-SEC second-team selection Anna Thompson took the loss for Auburn. She pitched three innings, gave up four runs, walked four and struck out three.

Senior Brittany day relieved Thompson and allowed only one hit in three innings.
Auburn coach Tina Deese said there was no change in preparation from the last time Auburn faced LSU in March.

"We knew what we were up against," Deese said. "We didn't do anything differently."

LSU will face No. 2-seed Alabama in the semi-final round of the tournament Friday at 7:30 p.m. No.1-seed Florida will take on No. 4-seed Tennessee in Friday's first game at 5 p.m.

Tennessee defeated No. 5-seed Georgia, 5-2, to advance in the tournament.



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Contact Tyler Batiste at tbatiste@lsureveille.com

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