LSU (43-15) softball dominated Southern Illinois (44-11) on both sides of the ball to claim the Baton Rouge Regional with a 9-0 blowout.
LSU held Southern Illinois to just one hit on the day and blasted three homers. Taylor Pleasants led the team with three RBI and Karli Petty was second with two hits and two RBI.
The Tigers will now advance to a Super Regional after outscoring its opponents 18-1 in the regional.
LSU grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI double from Raleen Gutierrez. Sierra Daniel reached base on an error and advanced to second on a groundout before the hit brought her home.
The second inning was when the Tigers busted the game open. A single and a walk put two on base before Petty hit an RBI single to right field to double the score. A walk put two more runners on base before a sac fly added another run.
Pleasants came up to bat with two runners on and blasted a three-RBI homer over the right field wall. The homer made it a 6-0 game heading into the third inning.
The Tigers added a pair of homers in the third inning to put the game away for good and threaten Southern Illinois with the run rule. Maci Bergeron hit a two-run shot to left field after Ali Newland reached base by being hit by a pitch and Petty hit a solo shot to make it 9-0.
Kelley Lynch secured a five-inning shutout over the next few innings. She came up just short of a no-hitter in the when she surrendered a single with two outs gone in the fifth inning. She had six total strikeouts and just one walk on the day.
Southern Illinois pitcher Maddia Groff had one of her shortest outings of the season against the Tigers’ offense. She made it just 1.1 innings and allowed three hits and five runs on the day.
LSU will face the winner of the Stanford Regional in a best-of-three series May 23-25.
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