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OKLAHOMA CITY — Facing elimination, Louisiana State tried to make history by winning three games on Sunday to advance to the championship game of the Women’s College World Series.

Each time, the Tigers turned to pitcher Kristen Schmidt, who threw over 20 innings on Sunday in the standout individual performance of the tournament.

For the first two games, the senior ace got the job done with a 2-1 win over Florida State in the morning and a 4-1 win over Cal to force an elimination game.

Despite getting less than a half-hour of rest, Schmidt was able to hold the Golden Bears scoreless through four innings. After throwing over 300 pitches on the day, she gave up four runs to Cal in the fifth inning, losing 4-1.

“We were just trying to dig deep and find whatever you have,” Schmidt said. “I think our team played our hearts out. We left everything on the field, so we have no regrets.”

Schmidt, who had already pitched 20 innings in LSU’s first two games, pitched another 20 2/3 innings on Sunday. With two outs in the seventh, LSU coach Yvette Girouard removed her to let her get the crowd’s recognition.

At that moment the crowd began to rise, starting with the LSU fans, until everyone in the stadium and even some players in Cal’s dugout were on their feet giving Schmidt a standing ovation in appreciation of her marathon performance.

“Softball is an enlightened community, and I had a feeling everyone in the stands would do that,” Girouard said. “Kudos to our sport, because this young lady certainly deserved that.”

On the day, Schmidt struck out 25 batters, gave up only six runs, and threw 355 pitches.

But her performance was not about the statistics as much as it was about her just being able to throw something – anything – and get batters out for innings after it seemed like her right arm was going to fall off.

“When these pitchers get on a roll like this they’re pretty unstoppable and they’re not going to give in,” Cal coach Diane Ninemire said. “They’re going to give their teams everything they can out there, and I expected exactly what she did tonight.”

LSU was only forced into a tripleheader because of freak weather on Saturday night. Severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings postponed the night game against Florida State, so it had to be played early Sunday.

Afterwards, Girouard said she would go with Schmidt for as far as she would take them.

Schmidt’s first win took them to a regularly scheduled game against Cal. Her second win, combined with UCLA’s win earlier in the day, meant LSU had to come back right away for the third game of the day.

Pitching three games in one day was an unprecedented performance under the tournament’s current format, and it may perhaps be remembered more than who won the game.