The No. 10 LSU Tiger (28-4, 5-1 SEC) softball team completed the series sweep of the No. 19 Florida Gators (20-14, 2-6 SEC) with a 2-1 win in Baton Rouge, La. on Sunday.

LSU struck first in a rather unconventional first inning. DeeDee Henderson took a free base on balls from Florida sophomore pitcher Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos, Calif.) She stole second to move into scoring position. Jazz Jackson was safe at first on an error in the Gator infield. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Leslie Klein. A sacrifice fly to right field by Killian Roessner brought Henderson home for the first run of the game.

The Gators tied the game in the top of the fourth. Florida’s second batter of the inning, senior Lacy Howard (League City, Texas), drew a walk from LSU pitcher Dani Hofer. After Howard stole second, junior Mary Ratliff (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) drove a base hit through the right side to score Howard for the 1-1 tie. Ratliff moved into scoring position on an illegal pitch from Hofer. After freshman Corrie Brooks (Christmas, Fla.) drew the second walk of the inning, Emily Turner came in to replace Hofer in the circle for the Tigers.

Leslie Klein took an 0-2 count from Nelson over the fence for the 2-1 Tiger lead in the bottom of the fourth. Nelson and the Gator defense retired the next three batters in order to end the inning.

That home run would be all LSU needed as Turner and Nelson battled through the final three innings. Each pitcher gave up only one more hit in the game. Turner gave up a one-out base hit to sophomore Kim Waleszonia (Fontana, Calif.) in the fifth. Nelson gave up a leadoff hit to Henderson in the sixth.

Turner (10-3) earned the win in relief. She struck out two Gator batters and only allowed one hit. Hofer struck out six Gators before being replaced by Turner. Nelson (12-7) struck out five LSU batters and allowed only two hits in the loss.

The Gators play seven games at the Florida Softball Stadium in Gainesville next week. Play opens on Wednesday with a doubleheader against Florida International at 3 p.m. The first game of the doubleheader will be televised live on Sun Sports. The second game will air live in Gainesville on WRUF AM 850 and world wide on www.wruf.com.