Florida’s Lauren Haeger too much for LSU
LSU has a glowfish named Juanita it passes around in the dugout in Oklahoma City to rally its batters. But Juanita’s glow was no match for the glare of Florida pitcher Lauren Haeger.
Haeger, the NCAA Player of the Year, was strong in the circle and at the plate as the Gators beat the Tigers 4-0 in a winners bracket game at the Women’s College World Series. Haeger hit a two-run home run as well as threw a complete-game shutout, holding LSU to five hits and striking out four. Haeger’s two-run home run in the fifth inning was her 70th career home run.
“I think we understand why Lauren Haeger is the Player of the Year. She’s a special player,” LSU head coach Beth Torina said. “She had a great day. We didn’t make very good adjustments against her on the mound. And she had the big hit that really was the difference in the ballgame.”
Meanwhile, LSU pitcher Carley Hoover couldn’t carry over her performance on Thursday against Auburn by giving up three runs on eight hits in her 5 2-3 innings. Hoover’s pitch count was 118, a much higher count than Thursday’s game. She gave up a big two-run homer to Haeger in the fifth inning and a solo homer to Nicole DeWitt in the sixth.
“I wasn’t tired at all. I was really pumped up for this game,” Hoover said. “I really was thinking before I came in here. I really can’t think of a single time this season that we haven’t come back ten times stronger. So I’m just ready for tomorrow.”
It will be interesting to see if Torina will have Hoover available as a reliever for Saturday’s game with her throwing so many pitches already.
LSU’s big bats could not get going against Haeger, as the top of the order for the Tigers (A.J. Andrews, Bailey Landry, Bianka Bell, Sahvanna Jaquish and Kellsi Kloss) went a combined 4-for-15 with no extra-base hits.
The Tigers had a chance to get on the board in the first inning as Andrews, Landry and Bell singled, but Haeger got Jaquish to ground into a fielder’s choice to get Andrews out at home, and Kloss hit a bouncer to shortstop Kathlyn Medina, who tagged out Bell and threw out Kloss to get the Gators out of the jam.
“I think that was a big turning point,” Torina said. “Even though it was so early in the game in the first inning I think if we can capitalize right there after we shut them down on their offensive side. If we could capitalize right there, I think it puts them in a different mind-set and I think it’s a completely different ballgame.”
That would be the last time LSU would get to Haeger, as she gave up only two more hits in the game.
Now LSU will wait for Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game between Alabama and Oregon, as the loser of that game is eliminated and the winner faces the Tigers at 8:30 p.m.
“I think if anybody can come through the losers bracket it’s our team,” Torina said. “We have the most pitching depth, I think, in the tournament. I feel really good about what we have left. We haven’t even put Allie Walljasper who was named an All-American on the mound yet. We have a lot of good options left. I feel really confident in our depth there.”