Softball Captures 3-0 Win over No. 1 Seed LSU
May 21, 1999
BATON ROUGE, La. - Crystal Draper threw a five-hitter to help lift the No. 3 seeded Oregon State softball team to a 3-0 victory over top-seeded Louisiana State on Friday, the second day of play of NCAA Regional competition.
Draper struck out the side in the first inning and then scattered five hits throughout the next six innings to hand LSU (55-9) just its second loss at Tiger Park this season.
"Crystal pitched a great game. She mixed pitches very well and kept them from really getting any kind of production going," said coach Kirk Walker. "Our defense played tremendous behind her."
In addition to the strong performance in the field, the No. 12 Beavers (45-24) picked up their offense after getting just two hits in their tournament opener on Thursday.
"We had a better sense of what we were going to do with our game," Walker said. "The weather was a little bit of adjustment for us, but I think part of our poor performance yesterday was due, in part, possibly to it being our first time in an NCAA Tournament."
OSU came through with seven hits against the No. 7 Tigers, highlighted by a 2-for-3 outing from Jenni Jodoin.
The Beavers got on the scoreboard in the third inning after leaving runners on base the first two innings. Brooke Rutschman drew a one-out walk and went to second on Jodi Chmielewski's single. The runners advanced a base on a wild pitch, and Rutschman scored on a sacrifice fly by Tarrah Beyster.
LSU looked to threaten in the fourth inning when Tara Asbill led off with a single to left field, but she tried to extend the hit into a double and was thrown out at second. The next two Tiger batters grounded out.
OSU added a couple insurance runs in the fifth inning. Rutschman came up with a one-out single to left field, but Chmielewski then fouled out to left field for the second out. Beyster doubled to left center to send Rutschman across the plate, and Tasha Heddinger came in to run for Beyster.
Jodoin then fouled a pitch off behind the plate, but Jennifer Schuelke dropped the ball that would have resulted in the third out. Jodoin drilled the next pitch to right center for an RBI double.
LSU coach Glen Moore then brought in Sophia Mount to relieve Ashley Lewis. Mount got Kim Herman out on a liner to the shortstop and then held the Beavers hitless in the sixth and seventh innings.
But the Beavers basically kept the Tigers off the base paths for the rest of the game as well. Lewis singled with one out in the fifth, but Shaunte Fremin then grounded into a double play. The Tigers were hitless in the sixth, but had a one-out single in the seventh before back-to-back fly balls ended the game.
Draper improved her record to 18-13 upon picking up OSU's first NCAA win in program history. She had five strikeouts and no walks. Lewis dropped to 25-4 with the loss.
Beyster and Jodoin tied the OSU single-season record for RBI with their performances against LSU. Both have 35 RBI this season, tying Beyster's mark from 1997.
The win keeps OSU in the hunt for a spot at the NCAA College World Series. The Beavers will face No. 5 seed Long Beach State in an elimination game at 2 p.m. PDT on Saturday, May 22. The double-elimination tournament continues through Sunday, with the winner heading to Oklahoma City for next weeks World Series.
Game Results - NCAA Regionals at Baton Rouge, La.
No. 3 Oregon State 001 020 0 - 3 7 0 No. 1 Louisiana State 000 000 0 - 0 5 2
Draper and Herman. Lewis, Mount (5) and Schuelke. WP- Draper (18-13). LP- Lewis (25-4). 2B- Beyster, Jodoin (OSU).
