Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Softball
Louisiana Tech softball earned its second shutout win of the season as true Freshman Laney Johnson tossed a complete-game while limiting Northwestern State to five hits in the Bulldogs’ 3-0 win over NSU on Tuesday evening at Lady Demon Park.
The Bulldogs outhit the Demons 7-5 and scored all three of their runs in the sixth and seventh innings to win the game. LA Tech scored its first run of the game in the sixth on a Karli Sellers pinch-hit groundout, while plating two more in the 10th on a bases loaded hit by pitch, and a passed ball.
“Our bats didn’t show up,” said head coach Josh Taylor. “I hate to say it like that. We had them on the ropes early, bases loaded, and we got a good at bat from Reagan Marchant. But we have to be able to execute in situation where we have a runner on second and third with one out.”
Alexis Gilio and Nicole Hammoude both collected two hits apiece, while Elena Heng, Reagan Marchant, and Alannah Rogers all had one base knock each. Marchant and Sellers led the Bulldogs with one RBI.
Gilio led the Bulldogs with three stolen bases while Rogers and Heng stole one bag apiece.
Johnson pitched all 7.0 innings to earn the shutout win as she held the Demons to no runs on five hits, while walking just one and fanning two. She did not allow any extra base hits in the win.
“Laney is the story tonight,” said Taylor. “She was fantastic all night, and it’s her first seven inning complete game in college. I am proud of the freshman. She did a great job.”
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Baseball
The Diamond ‘Dogs (15-10, 2-1 CUSA) took down the Grambling State Tigers (9-14, 5-1 SWAC) in a 14-6 thriller at the Love Shack on Tuesday. After Grambling picked up a 6-3 lead in the fifth, LA Tech responded with 11 unanswered runs to secure the win.
“Extremely proud of our team,” said Tech head coach Lane Burroughs. “We knew this was going to be a battle tonight. Grambling is really good offensively. (Head coach) Davin (Pierre) does a great job. (I have) so much respect for their program and they have great players over there.
“They got a lot of transfers in-they lost some guys that were really good players that transferred out. It didn’t look good early for us, they came in ready to play [and] we knew it. We knew they were going to come after us with their hair on fire and they did.”
Garrison Berkley carried his hot offensive play at the plate into the game by belting his third homer in the past two games to get Tech started with a 1-0 lead in the first. The Tigers responded with a solo shot of their own in the third to even the score, but Berkley wanted more as he sent his second home run of the day in the home half to give Tech the lead back with a 2-1 score going into the fourth.
Tuesday’s game started to become a home run barrage as Grambling sent two more solo shots out of the park to regain the lead at 3-2. Once Tech was given their chance to bat in the inning, Zeb Ruddell crushed his first homer as a Diamond ‘Dog to the Right Field Kennel to tie it at 3-3. The Tigers offense showed no signs of slowing down as they plated three more in the fifth.
After a leadoff double and a groundout to advance the runner to third, an RBI knock gave Grambling a 4-3 lead before two steals and a fielding error would allow another run to cross the plate with two outs. Two more base hits followed to bring Grambling to a 6-3 advantage going into the home half of the fifth.
The ‘Dogs were held in check in the fifth yet responded in the sixth with Grant Comeaux, Ruddell and Thaxton Berch drawing three-straight one-out walks to load the bases before a pitching change was made by Grambling. The Tigers reliever then walked Brody Drost to score a run before hitting Matt Houston with a pitch to make it a one-run game.
Sebastian Mexico then entered the game as a pinch hitter and drew a walk himself, the fifth walk allowed by Grambling in the inning, to tie the game at 6-6. After another pitching change on the Tigers’ side, Colton Coates hit a sacrifice fly to give Tech their first lead back since the fourth inning.
Back-to-back two-run knocks by Drost and Houston gave the Bulldogs some insurance with an 11-6 lead through seven innings before Berch all but closed the door on Grambling with a three-run blast for his second career homer in as many games. Nate Crider then entered the game out of the bullpen and after allowing a leadoff walk, punched out the next three batters including a looking strikeout to end the game.
Berkley is the first Bulldog to hit multiple homers in consecutive game since Jorge Corona achieved that same feat in 2024. He hit two bombs in the series opener at New Mexico State on May 3 before hitting three the following day.
Luke Nichols earned the win to improve to a 2-2 record on the year, tossing 1 2/3 crucial shutout innings allowing three hits and fanning three batters. Berkley had the only multi-hit game for the ‘Dogs, and Houston, Drost and Berch each had three RBI. Ruddell and Berch also each scored three runs with six ‘Dogs scoring at least twice.
