Once LSU's softball team let victory slip through its collective hands, Mississippi State was more than ready to grasp it. Turned out, the Bulldogs also ran away with it.
Mississippi State stopped a 17-game losing streak to LSU, scoring twice in the top of the 11th and held off one final Tiger assault for a 8-7 Southeastern Conference victory Tuesday before 350 at Tiger Park.
The game lasted 3 hours and 21 minutes and nearly reached midnight.
"We literally gave it away," LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard said. "We had a two-run home run taken away and we were one out away. We never gave up, but it's a game we gave away. We have to get rid of it immediately and move on."
Fourth-ranked LSU managed a split, riding an offensive explosion and the complete-game effort of All-America pitcher Britni Sneed to a 9-3 victory.
LSU (20-7, 5-2) will play host to Mississippi State (19-13, 2-3) in the series finale at 2 p.m. today at Tiger Park. The game, which was orginally scheduled for 4 p.m, was moved up to avoid potential inclement weather. The game will be broadcast by WJNH (107.3-FM).
The split dropped the Tigers behind No. 17 Alabama (22-11, 6-2), a 4-3, 8-3 winner over Florida, into second place in the SEC's West Division.
The two teams each scored a run in the 10th, taking advantage of the international tiebreaker rule that went into effect at the beginning of the inning. The rule places the runner, who made the final out of the previous inning, at the second base to start a new inning.
Julie Wiese's one out single with tied the game at 6-6, scoring Megann Steege who started the inning at second and was sacrificed to third by Erin Johnson.
But State, which had defeated LSU only once in 20 previous games, scored twice against losing pitcher Kristin Schmidt in the 11th.
Shortstop Jennifer Jessup singled in Jennifer Waterman from third and left fielder Tyeah Patterson (2-for-4, 3 RBIs) drove in Jessup for a 8-6 lead. For the second time in five innings, left fielder threw out Kellie Wilkerson trying to score from second.
Trena Peel (3-6, RBI) made it 8-7, driving in Blair Smith from third. But the Bulldogs, who registered three doubles plays, made the biggest one of the game when center fielder Iyhia McMichael hauled in April Janzen's flyball in medium center and then threw out Perry trying to score from the third.
First baseman Christy Connor (2-4, RBI) then grounded out to end the inning.
"We had some key people up and key opportunities," Girouard said. "Maybe this is one of those hard lessons that has to be learned. Maybe it wasn't meant to be."
State erased deficits of 3-0 with three runs in the sixth, two of which came on Tyeah Patterson's two-run homer to center field. It was her first home run of the season.
After LSU took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth on a pair of wild pitches, State tied the game again at 5-all with two outs on consecutive RBI-singles by Jennifer Nelson and McMichael.
Schmidt (7-3) allowed 12 hits, walked five and struck out 14 -- the third time this season she struck out more than 10 batters.
LSU scored single runs in each of the first three innings.
In the first game, LSU flexed its offensive muscle early and All-America pitcher Britni Sneed made it stand up.
The No. 4 Tigers scored four runs in the bottom of the first and added three more in the second en route to a 9-3 Southeastern Conference West Division victory over Mississippi State Tuesday at Tiger Park.
Sneed (10-4) allowed eight hits and three runs (all earned). She walked three and struck out 14.
Sneed moved past Maryland's Kelly Shipman into 11th place on the NCAA's all-time strikeout list with 1,047. It was also her sixth straight start with 10 strikeouts or more, giving her 155 in 93 innings of work.
