BATON ROUGE, La. — Pitcher Cody Trahan threw a two-hit shutout to lead No. 3 seed LSU to a 4-0 victory over No. 6 seed Auburn in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Softball Tournament on Thursday night.

The loss eliminated Auburn from the tournament. The Tigers dropped to 37-20 overall, while LSU improved to 42-15. Auburn will now await word on an NCAA bid, which will be announced live Sunday at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.

“You really have to give Trahan credit, she made us hit her pitch when she had to,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. “We had a few chances, but couldn’t get anything across.”
Auburn pitcher Anna Thompson took the loss to fall to 12-11. Thompson allowed four runs, all earned, on three hits in three innings of work. Brittany Day threw the final three innings, allowing one unearned run.

Trahan improved her record to 18-4 with the win. Trahan gave up a hit in the second and fifth innings. Trahan fanned eight and walked five in seven innings of work.

Auburn threatened in the second inning. Myesha Finney singled to left with one out and moved to second on Taryn Gray’s walk. Gray drew the walk after falling behind in the count 0-2. A passed ball moved Finney to third and Gray to second. But LSU ended the scoring threat when Starr Dorsey struck out looking to end the inning.

LSU got on the scoreboard the hard way in the bottom of third inning. With two outs, second baseman Shannon Stein hit a fly ball to left that hit off the head of a leaping Brittany Scott. The ball rolled away from Scott, allowing Stein to round the bases for an inside the park home run and a 1-0 LSU lead.

Still in the third, Rachel Mitchell walked and then stole second. Quinlan Duhon then hit a line drive to left that hit in Scott’s glove as she was sliding to make the catch. The ball rolled out and allowed Mitchell to score from second and give LSU a 2-0 lead.

LSU pushed its lead to 3-0 in the fourth when Tayl’r Hollis tripled to right-center to score Erika Sluss from first. Brittany Day, brought in to relieve Thompson, then threw a wild pitch to score Hollis from third and increase the LSU lead to 4-0.

Thompson named Academic-All-District
Sophomore pitcher Anna Thompson was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team. Thompson, a native of Huntsville, has a 3.39 GPA and is majoring in Finance.

To be nominated, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for her career.

In 2008, Thompson led the Tigers in wins (12), strikeouts (222) and innings pitched (149.2). She finished the regular season second in the SEC in strikeouts and was named to the All-SEC Second Team.