Boxscore

BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana Tech put a scare into 13th ranked LSU Sunday afternoon before falling 3-2 to the Tigers in championship play of the 2004 LSU Purple and Gold Challenge at Tiger Park.

Tech (7-8) had a chance to tie the game up or take the lead in the top of the seventh inning; however, with runners on first and third with two outs, the Lady Techsters bid for the upset was ended with a strikeout by LSU All-American pitcher Kristin Schmidt.

The Lady Techsters actually took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning and then upped the advantage to 2-0 with a solo home run by freshman Christine Echols in the top of the fourth. LSU (10-3) quickly answered with one run in the bottom of the fourth and then two more in the bottom of the fifth to take the 3-2 lead.

Tech senior pitcher Marla Pinkston (4-6) picked up the loss despite a valiant effort as the Forney, Texas, native held the Tigers to seven hits and five walks in six innings of work while striking out four.

Offensively, the Lady Techsters were led by Brittany Stanley, Mary Cohn and Aimee Coleman with two hits each while Amber Miles, Casey Reiff and Echols each contributed one hit.

Although Tech ended the tournament with a 2-3 record, two of the Lady Techsters losses came to nationally-ranked LSU in close contests. Tech returns to action this weekend at the Baylor Tournament.