No. 24 Kentucky softball (17-8, 3-1 SEC) fell to no. 4 LSU (25-1, 1-0 SEC) by a score of 4-1 on Friday.

The Tigers’ offense had a hot start with three runs in the first inning.

The first came from an RBI single by Tori Edwards, followed soon after by a triple by McKenzie Redoutey that brought in two more runs, which gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead at the end of the frame.

LSU followed up its big first inning with another RBI single, this time from Maci Bergeron. This made the score 4-0 in favor of the Tigers.

The Cats were finally able to gain some traction in the third inning when Mckenzie Bump hit a sacrifice fly out to center field, which allowed Hallie Mitchell to score from third to shorten LSU’s lead to 4-1.

Kentucky pitcher Carson Fall came in for Sydney Langdon in the top of the third and did not give up a single run in her four innings pitched.

However, the Cats could not take advantage, as they also failed to score in the final four frames due to a dominant performance by LSU pitcher Sydney Berzon, which kept the final score at 4-1 in favor of the Tigers.

The loss marked Kentucky’s first in conference play this season, knocking its conference record down to 3-1.

The Cats will be back in action this Saturday in Baton Rouge in their second match of their three-game series at LSU. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.