By Ben Wright
LSU Sports Information
For two California girls who grew up less than 100 miles apart, it took a 1,500-mile move to form a friendship. That is the story of two LSU softball players, who are quickly establishing themselves as one of the Southeastern Conference’s top middle infield combinations.
For Andrea Smith, there was little doubt about where she wanted to play college ball. “My sister played here,” said the freshman shortstop. “She told me how much she loved the people, the coaches and the team. Instantly, when I came on the recruiting trip, I knew I wanted to be here.”
Head coach Yvette Girouard recalled Smith’s recruitment. “Andrea was easy to recruit. We had been watching her since she was fourteen years old and we knew how good she was going to be.”
According to Girouard, the recruitment of Smith’s counterpart, Vanessa Soto, was more surprising. “(Associate head coach) James (DeFeo) saw Vanessa playing in a summer league game, so I went out to see her and she went hitless for the tournament,” Girouard laughed. “But I could tell that she was a good ball player and I found out that she was even better person.”
On that belief, LSU began to recruit Soto and it didn’t take long for the Tigers to get a lock on their woman.
“I remember when I got my first letter from LSU,” the freshman second baseman said. “I was so excited. I remember I ran and told my mom.”
Soto said it was her recruiting trip to Baton Rouge that finally had her sold. “I flew half way across the country to make a visit and three hours into my visit I called my mom and said, ‘Mom I have a problem. I love it here and this is where I have to be’.”
It was on that recruiting trip that Soto first met Smith. Despite Soto having grown up in San Diego and Smith in nearby Moreno Valley and both of them being nationally recruited softball players, the two had never met. Soon after, however, they became linked together on and off the field.
When the pair arrived for school in the fall they were assigned to live together on campus and quickly became friends. “We get along really well,” Smith said. “We read each other well and have similar personalities.”
Soto agrees about the off field friendship. “I feel like I’ve known Andrea my whole life,” she said. “She’s one of my best friends out here.”
“Now that they’re roommates you can’t even tell them apart,” Girouard said. “They have a great friendship going and we’re happy that has worked out so well.”
During the fall the coaching staff decided to put junior Lauren Delahoussaye at third base, the position Soto had been recruited to play.
“We needed a place to put Lauren and she seemed like a natural fit at third,” Girouard said. “So we looked to see what we could do with Soto at second.”
That move has paid big dividends for Tigers this season. Given the high level of chemistry needed between a shortstop and second baseman, Soto and Smith were a perfect fit.
“We’ve clicked since the very first practice,” Soto said. “Usually it takes a while to get used to a girl’s throws or the way they play. She and I have just had a lot of chemistry.”
“I think the fact that we get along so well helps us mesh on the field,” Smith said. “That’s important with us working so closely together at second and shortstop.”
The duo’s play has surprised their coach as well.
“It was like instantly they were on the same page from day one,” said Girouard. “They think alike, they know each other, and they know what they are going to do. I give a lot of credit (assistant coach) Lori (Osterberg), our infield coach.”
Smith and Soto are quick to give credit to each other and their teammates as well.
“To have her right next to me on the field along with the rest of my teammates is so reassuring,” Soto said.
This year’s Tiger softball team features nine freshmen on a roster of seventeen players. Despite their age and inexperience, Smith and Soto feel that they and their teammates are prepared to do their part in keeping the softball program among the nation’s best.
“I want to do everything I can to help the team,” Smith said. “I think we’re building right now but, it’s just a matter of bringing it together.”
“It’s a great program,” Soto said. “We take pride in playing for LSU because it’s not something a lot of people get to do. If we just focus on staying together and having unity, then that will get us to where we want to be as a team.”