BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 10/11 LSU narrowly edged BYU 2-1 in 12 innings Thursday night at the LSU Round Robin.
“It was a great softball game tonight and a heartbreaker to lose,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "If you like pitching and defense, you loved this game. Kerisa (Viramontes) pitched an incredible game tonight and we played great defense."
The Tigers (24-4) outhit the Cougars (15-13) seven to four as both teams remained scoreless through a nine-inning pitchers' duel and traded runs in the 10th before LSU walked off for the win in the 12th.
Kerisa Viramontes pitched all 12 innings for BYU and posted six strikeouts from the circle.
Lexi Tarrow led the Cougars with two hits while Caitlyn Alldredge and Brooke Vander Heide each had one.
Rylee Jensen reached her glove over the left-center fence to rob LSU’s Becca Schulte of a home run in the bottom of the ninth and keep the game going.
Briielle Breland was placed on second to start the tenth inning, according to the international tiebreaker rule. Tarrow singled to shortstop and Breland advanced. Libby Sugg reached on a fielder’s choice with Tarrow moving to second and Breland sliding to beat the throw at home for a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers then evened the score 1-1 on a fielder’s choice at second and a throwing error on the same play.
In the 12th frame, LSU’s Aliyah Andrews laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner from second to third. Emily Griggs singled through the right side, bringing in the game-ending run.
BYU at No. 10/11 LSU Box Score
The LSU Round Robin continues for the Cougars Friday with a doubleheader against North Dakota State at 1:30 p.m. CDT and LSU at 4:00 p.m. CDT. The second game will be televised on SEC Network Plus, which can be streamed on WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. Links to live stats will be available on the BYU softball schedule page.