BATON ROUGE — Undefeated LSU moved up two places in the ESPN/USA Softball poll into a tie for fifth with Alabama, as the Tigers prepare to host in-state rival Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Tiger Park.
The game time was changed due to weather concerns, including lows near 30 predicted for Wednesday night. Fans will be still able to win great prizes throughout the contest with “Sweetheart Scratch Tickets” as part of Swinging Sweethearts Valentine’s Night.
“We moved the game up because of the weather factor,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We froze on the weekend, we’re going to freeze tomorrow and we’re going to freeze this weekend. We’re trying to do everything we can to keep our kids out of that weather.”
After beginning the season at No. 7 in the preseason ESPN poll, LSU (6-0) jumped two places to its highest ranking in this poll since the final poll of the 2004 season when the Tigers were ranked No. 3. Since ESPN and USA Softball began their softball poll on Feb. 25, 2003, the Tigers have been ranked in 55 of the 64 polls (.859). LSU has also been ranked in the top 10 for 25 weeks in the poll’s history.
Last weekend, the Tigers went undefeated to win the Easton Tiger Classic and claim their first tournament title of the season. LSU knocked of Memphis, 3-1, Middle Tennessee, 6-2, Missouri, 7-1, and Centenary, 9-0, in five innings to earn the tournament’s top seed.
The Tigers then topped Middle Tennessee, 2-0 to advance to the championship game. It took nine innings, but the Tigers knocked off Memphis, 7-2, behind a grand slam from Kristen Hobbs, to claim the championship. Hobbs was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, while Jazz Jackson, Vanessa Soto and Emily Turner were named to the all-tournament team.
“I was pleased with last weekend overall,” said Girouard. “We had some pleasant surprises and some surprises that literally left us scratching our heads. We were tested in that last game and had to go nine innings. I think it was a case that Memphis did a lot of things right and we did a lot of things right. Sometimes the ball doesn’t have eyes and finally it did. I like that we were tested early like that because we were the visitors in that game which meant they had the last at-bat.”
UL-Monroe comes into Wednesday’s game with a record of 2-3. The Warhawks posted wins over Southern and Mississippi Valley, but lost to Southeastern Louisiana, Troy and Tennessee-Martin the Lion Classic at SLU last weekend.
Hobbs had a career weekend for the Tigers. She went 8-for-15 (.533) from the plate with four home runs, nine RBIs and five runs scored while being named the tournament’s MVP. Against Missouri, she tied the school record with a pair of home runs and posted home runs in back-to-back games by adding her third home run against Centenary.
“Three weeks ago, she ( Hobbs) couldn’t lift her hand up to blow dry her hair,” said Girouard. “She had a cortisone shot and we eased her back into it. She looked great at practice defensively, but she’s never really been known for her hitting. She’s not a true hitter. Her swing is not that great, but (hitting coach) James (DeFeo) said that she had been doing a lot of work in the batting cages because she couldn’t throw for over a year.”
In three previous seasons at LSU, the senior catcher from Royal Palm Beach, Fla., had previously recorded only two home runs. She was limited to just five game appearances last season after having Tommy John surgery and will likely have a second surgery following this year, but she made her presence felt in the season opening tournament.
“We put her in the lineup because we felt like she could play and, wow, she just took it by storm,” said Girouard. “It’s kind of an unbelievable story and none of us saw this coming. She just has so much confidence right now and what an added bonus that is for our team. I’ve said this a thousand times, but she is the epitome of all you could ever want in a student-athlete. She’s just a great human being. She’s always put the team in front of herself. She understood her role and would do anything to help the team. I was just tickled to death with that performance.”
Freshman Jazz Jackson tied Hobbs for the team best with a .533 batting average. She began her career by recording hits in her first six plate appearances and also posted three stolen bases. Junior Vanessa Soto leads LSU with 10 RBIs, including a pair of home runs among her five hits last weekend.
As a team, the Tigers are batting at a remarkable .335 clip. Six players are hitting .300 or above, including three over .400, while the Tigers have recorded seven doubles, a triple and nine home runs in just their first six games.
Turner leads LSU with a perfect 3-0 record. The senior All-American has recorded one shutout with a 0.67 earned run average and 24 strikeouts in three appearances. Sophomore Dani Hofer is 2-0, including the complete-game extra-inning win over Memphis, with 25 strikeouts. Junior Tiffany Garcia threw her third career no-hitter in her only appearance of the year against Centenary.
As a team, the Tigers have a 0.67 earned run average and are allowing opponents to hit just .131 against them. In addition, LSU pitchers have struck out 54 batters, which averages out to nine strikeouts per seven innings.
UL-Monroe is hitting .283 as a team this season. The Warhawks are led by Heather Hanson with a .474 average, including two RBIs. Jamie Liles leads ULM with five RBIs, while recording two doubles. The Warhawks as a team have only recorded five extra-base hits this season, with just one home run.
Lindsay Rittenhouse has gotten the most work in the circle for Louisiana-Monroe with five appearances. She is now 1-3 overall with a team-best 2.26 earned run average and 32 strikeouts. As a team, the Warhawks have a 2.60 ERA with 44 strikeouts.
LSU is 2-0 all-time against UL-Monroe, with the Tigers sweeping a doubleheader from the Warhawks in 1998, 10-0 and 8-0, at Tiger Park. LSU is also 22-3 all-time against Sun Belt Conference opponents, including a pair of wins over Middle Tennessee State last weekend. For her career, Girouard is 60-19 all-time against the UL-Monroe, with all of those games coming while she was at UL-Lafayette.
This weekend, the Tigers travel to Houston for the Crowne Plaza Invitational. LSU will take on Houston, which knocked off nationally ranked Michigan on Sunday, along with Southern Illinois, which is receiving votes for the poll. In addition, the Tigers will face Missouri State, Texas State and Indiana in the three-day round robin tournament.
ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 Poll
Week of Feb. 4-11
Rank
Team
Record
Points
PVS
1.
Tennessee (13)
4-0
492
2
2.
Arizona State (1)
8-0
462
5
3.
Texas A&M (5)
5-0
448
14
4.
Arizona (1)
4-2
434
1
T5.
LSU
6-0
393
7
T5.
Alabama
5-0
393
8
7.
Oregon State
2-1
362
6
8.
Northwestern
2-3
347
4
9.
UCLA
2-3
304
3
10.
California
3-1
293
10
11.
Texas
4-1
276
T18
12
Stanford
3-1
266
9
13
UL-Lafayette
6-0
259
17
14.
Oklahoma
5-0
253
16
15.
Michigan
4-1
248
13
16.
Baylor
6-0
216
T18
17.
Washington
5-1
214
11
18.
Georgia
4-2
178
12
19.
Florida
4-1
150
RV
20.
Nebraska
4-3
104
15
21.
Fresno State
3-2
90
20
22.
Florida State
4-0
80
25
23.
UMass
2-2-1
58
24
24.
NC State
3-1
37
22
25.
DePaul
5-2
24
NA
Parenthesis Denotes first place votes.
Others receiving votes: Oregon (21), South Florida (14), Kansas (12), Georgia Tech (12), Iowa (11), Louisville (9), Wisconsin (9), Virginia Tech (7), Hawaii (7), Illinois State (5), Notre Dame (4), Southern Illinois (3), Penn State (3), Cal State Fullerton (1), UC Santa Barbara (1).