It was "Retro Weekend" at Tiger Park on Saturday and Sunday, but there was no need to turn back the clock for the three-time defending SEC champion LSU softball team.
After a slow start, the fourth-ranked Tigers (18-5, 3-0 SEC) took care of business and put the final touches on a three-game sweep of Florida with a 4-0 win.
Former Tigers softball players from 1979-82 were honored before and after the game, but in between the ceremonies the current team made sure they began conference play strong.
"It was critical because the SEC schedule is certainly not advantageous to us in the month of April," LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard said. "We are on the road every weekend in April, so we've got to sweep at home."
Freshman backup catcher Leigh Ann Danos came up with a pinch-hit two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning to break a scoreless tie.
While the offense may have come from an unexpected source, the Tigers knew they would be getting a solid pitching performance from All-American Britni Sneed.
Sneed pitched a complete-game, two-hitter, striking out 10. Less than 24 hours earlier she became just the 12th pitcher in NCAA history to accumulate 1,000 strikeouts.
Sneed (8-4) was in command all day, spreading two hits and two walks over seven innings. Her consecutive innings with at least one strikeout streak ended in the second, however, at 41.
"If we score one or two runs with the pitching staff we have we should win 99 percent of our ball games," Girouard said.
Sneed finished the weekend with two wins, 14 shutout innings and 27 strikeouts. She only gave up five hits over her two appearances Saturday and Sunday.
Florida starter Mandy Schuerman held LSU to just one hit -- a double by Christy Connor -- through four innings, but she left the game in the fifth, after a leadoff walk.
Amanda Moore came on in relief and the Tigers' bats seemed to come to life at about the same time. Sara Fitzgerald grounded into a fielder's choice, but both runners were safe.
Freshman shortstop Blair Smith was next and took ball one, which got away from Florida catcher Bree Berger, enabling the runners to move up to second and third.
With the count 1-0, Girouard pulled Smith back in favor of Danos, who lined Moore's pitch to deep left field knocking in the game's first two runs.
"It's a clutch situation and to ask a freshman to step up and do that is a credit to her," Girouard said. "We talk about being a prime-time player and that is what we needed in that inning."
Julie Wiese added another run in the fifth when she singled to left field and the Tigers got a fourth run in the sixth inning on an error by Moore.
"I thought we hit the ball well at times," Girouard said. "We did hit the ball hard, but we've just got to make a better effort of trying to jump out on teams early."
