BATON ROUGE, La. ? The ULM softball team allowed five runs with two outs in the bottom of the first inning and could never recover in falling 9-2 at No. 9 LSU in Baton Rouge on Wednesday night.
After retiring two of the first three batters, Warhawks starter Kandace Causey (3-3) walked the clean-up hitter before LSU's Tayl'r Hollis launched a three-run homer for the early lead. The next two Tigers walked and came home on a two-RBI single by Ashley Applegate for the early lead.
LSU (10-3) would extend the lead to 6-0 in the second inning off an RBI groundout. After a single with one out, the Tigers loaded the bases on back-to-back walks before Rachel Mitchell came home to score.
ULM (6-8) would get in the score column when freshman Brittany Brassell scored on a wild pitch. Brassell reached on a single and advanced to third following a single and walk before coming home with two outs in the inning.
Freshman Brianna Love would cut into the score even more after hitting a solo home run, her fifth of the season, to lead off the sixth inning. ULM picked up a base hit from freshman Molly McNeill in the inning, but couldn't come any closer than 6-2.
The Tigers tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth for the final 9-2 score.
McNeill finished with two of the Warhawks five hits in the game. Freshman Heather Fritz came in and retired the final three Tiger batters of the game.
The Warhawks return to the diamond on Saturday, March 1 when they travel to Waco, Texas for a three game series against No. 13 Baylor. ULM will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. and a single game on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.
