LSU Beats Texas Tech In Extras, Red Raiders Down La Tech

BATON ROUGE, La.-- In a game that started off at 1:05 p.m. and finished almost four and a half hours later, the LSU Tigers were able to come from behind to defeat the Texas Tech Red Raiders 5-4 in the 13th inning.

After the Red Raiders scored four runs in the first inning, it took until the fourth for the Tigers to come roaring back by scoring three. The common theme between the two teams was leaving runners on. Texas Tech left 10 runners on, while LSU left almost double that with 18.

LSU Head Coach Beth Torina felt that the crowd really helped her team keep up the intensity.

“It was amazing to see their support as Tiger Park really felt like Tiger Park today," Torina said. "It is named after us and it certainly felt like it today. Our fans were amazing, and they definitely gave us a big lift.”

LSU wasn’t able to tie it up until the sixth inning when Shemiah Sanchez hit a sacrifice fly to center to allow Taryn Antoine to score. That would be the last run to cross the plate until the 13th when Antoine would hit her own sacrifice fly to centerfield which allowed Amanda Doyle to cross the plate, sealing the walk-off win for LSU.

“I cannot say enough about Taryn Antoine as not everything has gone well for her this season," Torina said after the game, "But she never quit and never stopped fighting for this program.”

Texas Tech Head Coach Adrian Gregory had this to say about the length of the game, “It is the longest game we have played this year. Our kids did everything that they could. They are gutted, and that’s what you want, you want to leave the field gutted. Now we get to reset and figure out how to get a win the next game. It’s part of it, we are in the post season now, and our kids are doing everything they can to make sure that we are here tomorrow.”

With the loss the Red Raiders dropped into the loser’s bracket, drawing a rematch from yesterday with Louisiana Tech, winners of the first elimination game of the day against Monmouth. While LSU gets to rest up and await the winner of the game.

La Tech Beats Monmouth

Louisiana Tech entered the first elimination game of the Baton Rouge Regional hoping to find the offense that brought them all the way to the NCAA Tournament, because yesterday it was non-existent as the only hit the Lady Techsters were able to muster was a drag-bunt.

Both teams played stout defense, and even with Monmouth getting eight runners on, compared to only two for La Tech, they couldn’t capitalize. Neither team could figure out a way to score until La Tech’s Morgan Turkoly hit a single to centerfield bringing Kimmie Atienza home in the sixth inning. Monmouth threatened in the top of the seventh with two runners on, but Tech kept them from crossing the plate to end the game.

Head Coach Shannon Salsburg had this to say about her pitcher, “I thought Alyssa (Irons) pitched fantastic, her change-up was spot on. She’s a funny pitcher, because I’ve always been after my pitchers to get first pitch strikes. We keep a chart, and it doesn’t matter if it is a first pitch strike or not, she’ll be efficient. She’s about fifteen pitches or less each inning.”

The loss ended Monmouth’s season, and Coach Salsburg spoke about the season her team had, “Overall, I was quite pleased. We got 36 wins again, which is fantastic. In our conference, we kind of hit a little lull and kind of went back to work and broke down a couple things that really payed dividends here. It was fun to win back-to-back (championships); I’ll take it every time.”

Louisiana Tech moved on for a rematch with Texas Tech in an elimination game to determine who would advance to face off against host LSU tomorrow.

Red Raiders Escape Lady Techsters

In the final game of the day, Louisiana Tech had a rematch from yesterday’s Baton Rouge Regional opener with Texas Tech. La Tech coming off the win against Monmouth was instructed in the pregame to move to the 1st base dugout, and after both teams were settled in and the umpires had checked the bats, the NCAA forced the teams to change dugouts again. It certainly wasn’t the way either team wanted to start the nightcap off.

In yesterday’s meeting, Louisiana Tech was only able to muster one hit, which was a glorified drag-bunt, so they were looking to come out with an offensive intensity that had been dormant so far in the regional. But that intensity never found its way down to Baton Rouge from Ruston. Louisiana Tech didn’t notch their first hit until the fifth inning.

Louisiana Tech Head Coach Mark Montgomery described his team’s performance this way, “Well, it’s similar to the first game and the whole regional. We were pretty fortunate to win a game; I think we only had six or maybe seven hits on the entire weekend. When that’s what you’re doing you are not going to be successful as you want to be.”

Texas Tech Head Coach Adrian Gregory talked about how proud she is of her team for their performance today, “Our team goes hard. We have been out here for 12 hours and I think that you can tell the heart and pride of what we do. I am so excited and proud for these guys. They put their heart out on the line every single day. Today was grueling, and tomorrow will be the same but, we will definitely celebrate the win today.”

Louisiana Tech’s season came to a close, while Texas Tech will take on Regional Host LSU Sunday at 3:30pm

LSU's Ciara Briggs Attains Excellence On Both Sides Of Field

LSU junior Ciara Briggs is a major threat on both sides of the field for the Tigers.