BATON ROUGE — After a sweep of No. 7 Alabama in Tuscaloosa last weekend, the fifth-ranked LSU softball team remains on the road with a game at in-state rival Nicholls State on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Lady Colonel Diamond.
The Tigers (31-7) enter the contest on a four-game winning streak and have won seven-straight over the Lady Colonels. Nicholls State (15-17) dropped 2-of-3 to McNeese State last weekend and the Lady Colonels have now lost five of its last six games.
“We welcome the opportunity to play a good Nicholls State team that always gives us a close game,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “They have a solid pitcher and were receiving votes in the poll last week after beating nationally ranked Georgia Tech. Nicholls is a team that we can’t take lightly. This should be a good two-game series.”
One of the most dominant offensive teams in the Southeastern Conference this season, the Tigers currently lead the league in hits, runs scored, runs batted in, home runs and slugging percentage for the season. On nine occasions LSU has scored in double figures and the Tigers are averaging over six runs a game.
Nicholls State will counter with outstanding pitching. The Lady Colonels are allowing just two runs a game with a team earned run average of 1.29. The Southland Conference leader in ERA, Nicholls State has allowed six runs in a game only twice this season.
Sophomore transfer Lauren Castle leads the Tigers with a .388 batting average. The Lafayette native has recorded five doubles, a triple and three home runs on the season while scoring 26 runs and knocking in 21.
Sophomore Stephanie Hill leads the SEC in home runs with 10. She is now just two shy of tying the LSU single-season record. Sophomore Lauren Delahoussaye and freshman Leslie Klein each have nine home runs this season as LSU is only seven home runs shy of the LSU single-season team home run record set last year.
Senior All-American Kristin Schmidt leads LSU with an 18-4 record and a 1.88 earned run average. Last weekend against No. 7 Alabama, she recorded a pair of wins and a save. She needs just 27 more strikeouts to move into 21st place on the NCAA career strikeout list and 48 more strikeouts to become just the 20th player in NCAA history to record 1,000 career strikeouts.
Freshman Emily Turner is 12-3 on the year after a win over Alabama last week. Sporting a 2.00 ERA, she has recorded five complete game shutouts and 74 strikeouts this season.
Dione Meier leads Nicholls State in the circle with an 11-8 record and a 0.74 earned run average, including win over nationally ranked Georgia Tech. In addition, Meier leads the Southland Conference in strikeouts with 232.
Sarah Eads leads the Lady Colonels with a .290 batting average. She is the only Nicholls State player batting over .250 on the season, compared to the entire Tiger starting lineup, which hits over .250. Eads also leads the Lady Colonels with 14 runs scored, while Brandi Hahn has driven in a team-best 17 runs.
Since LSU reinstated softball in 1997, the Tigers are 7-1 all-time against Nicholls State, including a 2-0 record in Thibodaux. The only loss for LSU came in the first meeting during the 1998 season in Baton Rouge.
The pair will move the series to Tiger Park in Baton Rouge on Thursday for a single game at 6 p.m. The contest is a make-up for the Feb. 25 game that was cancelled due to rain.