This weekend, the LSU Softball team is hosting the Purple and Gold Classic in Baton Rouge bringing UT Arlington, Northwestern, and Virginia Tech for a weekend of elite matchups early on in the season. On Friday, the LSU Softball team faced off against the UT Arlington Mavericks in the Afternoon and Northwestern in the second game at night.
In the first matchup, LSU sent Tatum Clopton to the mound and she had her best performance at LSU with a complete game shutout performance. Clopton struck out ten batters in the game and was in total control sitting down eleven of UT Arlington's first 15 batters.
The offense got behind Clopton early and added insurance runs on later in the game to help LSU in picking up the win. The Tigers scored three runs in the first inning on a Tori Edwards two run double and a McKaela Walker RBI single. Throwing errors followed by Jalia Lassiter and McKenzie Redoutey RBI hits doubled LSU's lead pushing the game out of reach.
In the second game, LSU sent Freshman phenom Jayden Heavener to the mound and while it wasn't a historic outing like her showing last Friday, Heavener pitched all 7 innings allowing 4 hits, 5 walks, and a run while striking out 12 batters.
On Offense, the Tigers tied the game up in the second inning as Savannah Bedell drove in Maddox McKee. In the third inning, LSU tacked on three runs as Danieca Coffey scored on an error, Jalia Lassiter scored on a Redoutey single and Tori Edwards scored on an error. The Tigers tacked on three more runs in the 4th pushing the game out of reach as Bergeron drove in Hodge before Lassiter and Coffey scored on a single by Redoutey.
If rain doesn't effect LSU's softball games, the Tigers will take on Northwestern once again at 2:00 PM Central Time and Virginia Tech will follow at 4:30 PM Central Time.