BATON ROUGE — The LSU softball team moved up one place in the NFCA/USA Today Coaches poll this week to No. 19 as the Tigers prepare to host in-state rival Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Fans can watch live stats will be available on LSUsports.net under Multimedia.
After going 4-3 last week, with all three losses to teams ranked in this week’s Top 10, LSU moved up from No. 20 to No. 19 in the NFCA/USA Today Coaches poll this week. The Tigers (16-3) are 14-0 this season at home, including a pair of wins over No. 11 Washington.
“It is good to be back at home,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We are anxious to welcome Southeastern Louisiana to the park and to play in front of our home crowd since we hit the road again this weekend. We are looking for a positive performance to take to Oklahoma.”
Southeastern Louisiana comes into Tiger Park with a 4-6 record on the season. The Lady Lions have lost three straight and five of their last six, including a pair of run-rule losses to Southern and Texas A&M.
LSU moved up from No. 25 to No. 20 last week, before advancing to No. 19 this week. The Tigers have now been ranked for three consecutive weeks and 108 weeks overall in the NFCA/USA Today poll.
LSU is one of five Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the poll. Along with the Tigers, Tennessee is ranked No. 3, Alabama is No. 5, Georgia is No. 12 and Auburn is No. 18.
Tiger sophomore Vanessa Soto put on a power display at the Palm Springs Classic last weekend. The second baseman was 8-for-13 (.615) with two doubles, two home runs, two stolen bases and six RBIs for a 1.231 slugging percentage. She sparked a pair of come-from-behind victories with home runs against Texas Tech and UC-Santa Barbara.
For the season, she leads LSU with a .458 batting average and leads the Southeastern Conference with nine doubles. Junior Leslie Klein is second on the team with a .436 average, including four doubles, two triples and a home run. The Tigers are hitting .357 as a team for the year, including a conference-best 42 doubles with 13 home runs and 40 stolen bases.
In the circle, freshman Dani Hofer is 5-2 on the season with a 0.92 earned run average. She leads the SEC in strikeouts looking and ranks sixth in strikeouts. Sophomores Megan Jolly and Tiffany Garcia have combined for a perfect 7-0 record with a 0.00 earned run average and six shutouts.
For the season, the Tiger hurlers have allowed only 15 runs, 10 earned, in 19 games for a 0.61 earned run average. In addition, LSU has picked up 12 complete game shutouts while averaging over 8.5 strikeouts per seven innings.
Amy Ford leads Southeastern with a .444 batting average, including a double, a home run and three RBIs, while the Lady Lions are hitting .264 as a team this season. Rachael Schwartz leads Southeastern in the circle with a 4-2 record and a 2.60 earned run average. As a team, the Lady Lions have recorded a 4.56 team earned run average this season with 51 strikeouts in 58.1 innings.
LSU is 6-0 all-time against Southeastern Louisiana, with three shutout wins. In their six previous meetings, only two have been decided by less than six runs. In their last meeting, the Tigers topped the Lady Lions, 7-0, in Baton Rouge on April 20, 2005. For her career, head coach Yvette Girouard is 48-1 all-time against Southeastern Louisiana, including a 5-0 record at LSU.
This weekend, the Tigers will take to the road again. LSU will participate in the Norman Residence Inn Invitational on Saturday and Sunday. The Tigers will face No. 10 Oklahoma and Troy, which defeated defending national champion Michigan on Tuesday, twice in the two-day tournament.