BATON ROUGE — LSU head coach Yvette Girouard will return to Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday with her the fifth ranked Tigers to face her former team of 20 years, the 24th ranked Lady Cajuns, in a classic in-state doubleheader showdown in Lady Cajun Park at 5:30 p.m.
“I would like the focus to be on the game and the student- athletes,” said Girouard. “If Glenn Moore would not have left to take the job at Baylor, then I would not be here. Baylor is doing better now than ever before, Lafayette is doing just fine and the Tigers are having a great season.”
“This is going to be a bitter-sweet experience for me. This is my home and my family, but now I am focused on the purple and gold and the Tiger team that I coach now. These are two fantastic programs, and I hope that everyone will strive to make this the best atmosphere possible for all to enjoy.”
Girouard is in the middle of her first season as the head coach of LSU after coaching at her alma mater Louisiana-Lafayette for the past 20 years where she started the program from scratch. During her tenure at Lafayette, Girouard led the Cajuns to 10 NCAA Regional appearances and three Women’s College World Series appearances while compiling a record of 758-252.
Now Girouard is just three wins away from her 800th career win (797-259) and will face the Lady Cajuns for the first time in her 21 year career. LSU is7-2 versus Louisiana-Lafayette all-time. The Tigers swept the Cajuns in the 2000 doubleheader but lost to them, 4-1, in the second game of the NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers shutout the Cajuns, 4-0 and 1-0, in Tiger Park last season. Pitcher Ashley Lewis hurled a complete-game one-hitter in the first shutout of the doubleheader. Britni Sneed came in the second game to shutdown the Cajuns with eight strikeouts. Stephanie Hastings picked up the only RBI of game two when she singled in Auburne Ziober in the third inning.
The Tigers out hit the Cajuns 5-3 at the NCAA Regional, but a lone error by LSU allowed four unearned runs to score in the fourth inning for the Cajun win. The Lady Cajun victory over the Tigers was the first since 1997 when the teams split in their first meeting at Lafayette.
The games will be carried by the LSU Sports Network on 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge and over the internet at www.LSUsports.net.
LSU enters the doubleheader boasting a record of 38-7 and 18-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Lafayette has a record of 31-6 overall and 8-0 in the Sun Belt conference.
The Tigers are off a three-game mid-week sweep of Mississippi State in Starkville. LSU leads the SEC by one game, with Alabama trailing 17-4. Lafayette recently swept Louisiana Tech in a four game conference series in Ruston.
The Tigers will host the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday and Sunday in Tiger Park. Saturday’s doubleheader will start at 11 a.m. and Sunday’s game will be played at noon.