BATON ROUGE — LSU head softball coach Yvette Girouard and the Tigers begin spring practice on Monday with a two-a-day session in preparation for the season-opening Easton Tiger Classic Tournament on Feb. 9-11 at Tiger Park.
LSU returns five position starters and three pitchers, including 2006 NFCA All-Americans Emily Turner and Leslie Klein. In addition, the Tigers return NFCA first-team All-South Region selection Vanessa Soto and Louisiana Freshman of the Year Dani Hofer.
Among the other returning starters include junior catcher Killian Roessner, junior shortstop Andrea Smith and outfielder Quinlan Duhon. LSU also returns a trio of pitchers in Turner, Hofer and junior Tiffany Garcia.
The Tigers bring in five freshmen, including NFCA High School All-American Lindsey Hope, EA Sports All-American Cody Trahan, Texas All-Star Game MVP Jazz Jackson, Texas all-state selection Rachel Mitchell and NFCA All-Region selection Stacey Woods. LSU also adds Oklahoma transfer Tayl’r Hollis, who sat out last season after joining the team in the spring of 2006.
LSU hits the field for its first practice on Monday morning in Tiger Park. The Tigers will conduct two-a-day practice sessions this week before going to the regular practice schedule of once a day as the spring semester begins next Tuesday.
The team will open the season on Feb. 9 against Memphis at Tiger Park in the Tiger Classic at 3:30 p.m. The Tigers will then take on Centenary, Middle Tennessee and Missouri before beginning bracket play in the three-day tournament.