BATON ROUGE — LSU begins defense of its Southeastern Conference crown on Saturday when it faces Florida in the first two games of a three-game series at Tiger Park beginning at 11 a.m.
The second game of the doubleheader will follow at approximately 1 p.m. and be televised on a taped delayed basis on Baton Rouge cable channel 10 at 9 p.m. Saturday night. The first game of the doubleheader will be broadcast in the Baton Rouge area on 107.3 FM as well on www.LSUsports.net. The second game will not be broadcast due to comflicts with the men’s basketball and baseball games.
The fourth-ranked Tigers (15-5) have won the past three SEC Championships and all five SEC Western Division titles since restarting the softball program in 1997. Last season, LSU went 26-4 in the league, including a 14-1 home record. The Tigers ended the year with a 10-game home win streak in conference play.
“We are excited about starting the SEC schedule,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “The girls have been working hard and are ready to open conference play. I think our tough schedule and our success to this point will be helpful during SEC play.”
Florida (12-14) enters the weekend having lost 10 of its last 12 games, with its only wins over Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Most recently, the Gators dropped a pair of games on the road at No. 16 Cal-State Fullerton.
The Tigers will welcome back the original LSU softball teams from the 1970’s and 1980’s for “Retro Weekend” at Tiger Park. LSU fielded a softball team for several years in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s before the program was discontinued.
The pitching staff is the strength of the Tigers game once again in 2002 as LSU enters the contest having thrown four shutouts in its last five games, including three straight.
Britni Sneed has begun to revert to All-American form after a slow start to the season. She has pitched back-to-back one-hitters in her last two outings.
The junior is just 10 strikeouts away from her 1,000th career strikeout and she could become just the 12th pitcher in NCAA history and the second pitcher in SEC history to break the 1,000-strikeout mark this weekend. Sneed ranked second in the nation with 410 strikeouts last season and has recorded 98 strikeouts so far this season.
At the plate, Trena Peel continues to own opposing pitchers, hitting .410 with a .629 slugging percentage from the leadoff spot. She also has a .509 on-base percentage while stealing seven bases in just nine attempts.
LSU will close out the series with a single game on Sunday at 11 a.m.