(Photo Courtesy of Louisiana Tech Athletics)
RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech (3-7) scored four runs in the third inning and that was all they would need as they defeated Grambling State (2-6), 4-1, on Wednesday evening at the Lady Techster Softball Complex.
Three Louisiana Tech pitchers combined to strike out 11 Grambling batters, led by Bianca Duran (2-5) who struck out five over three innings in the circle. Pauline Tufi and Anna Cross pitched four innings in relief, striking out six and not allowing a walk. Angela Perez (0-3) was charged with the loss after surrendering four runs on seven hits in a complete game performance.
Tufi, in addition to not allowing a runner to reach base from the circle, was responsible for three of the four Lady Techster runs with two RBI and a run scored in a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. The freshman drove in both runs on a bases-clearing double to left center.
“[Pauline] struggled a little bit this past weekend, going up against top 10 teams and she is the three-hole hitter,” said Louisiana Tech head coach Mark Montgomery. “They kind of abused her a little bit. I think she has learned from some of her mistakes and even her first at bat tonight was a weak ground ball. Finally we talked to her and said, ‘You are going to do that all the time until you make the adjustment.’ I was really proud of her the next two at bats and I think she made a really nice adjustment.”
Janine Godwin led off the third with a double to left center and moved to third as Lindsey Neyland beat out a slow-rolling grounder to second. Godwin would score two batters later as Tori Charters drove in the first run of the game on an infield single. Tufi would drive in Neyland and Charters on her double, the first of her two hits in the game. Tufi would score two batters later as Hailey Winter drove in Tech’s final run with a double to right center.
Louisiana Tech would only put one more runner on base – Tufi’s single in the fifth inning.
“I was little disappointed we did not put up more runs, we had several opportunities, we just did not find ways to do it and we had way too many innings where we went 1-2-3,” Montgomery said. “Some batters need to make an adjustment and we will keep working on it to get better.”
Grambling’s lone run of the game came in the top of the seventh as Aaliyah Lowe scored on a wild pitch from Cross.
LA Tech returns to action Friday in Monroe at the ULM Warhawk Classic. The Lady Techsters open the tournament at 3:15 p.m. against South Dakota.
For complete coverage of Lady Techster Softball, please follow @LATechSB on Twitter and visit the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics at LATechSports.com.
