BATON ROUGE — After going 4-2 last week, the LSU softball team dropped three places in the ESPN/USA Softball poll to No. 9, as the Tigers prepare to host in-state rival McNeese State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Tiger Park.
The game will be televised live on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37. It marks the “Big Cat in the Hat Night” at the ball park in celebration of the 50 th birthday of Dr. Seuss’ “Cat in the Hat”. The first 200 fans will receiveFREEred and white stovepipe hats and all fans will get a chance to meet LSU’s own big cat Mike the Tiger.
After beginning the season at No. 7 in the preseason ESPN poll, LSU (21-3) jumped as high as fifth before dropping down to No. 9 this week. Since ESPN and USA Softball began their softball poll on Feb. 25, 2003, the Tigers have been ranked in 58 of the 66 polls (.879). LSU has also been ranked in the top 10 for 27 weeks in the poll’s history.
Last weekend, the Tigers swept a doubleheader from Alcorn State, dominating the Lady Braves, -3 and 12-0 in a pair of run-rule wins. LSU then earned two shutout wins over Portland State, 7-0 and 8-0 in five innings, to start play in the Husky Softball Classic in Seattle. The Tigers then dropped a heartbreaker, 3-1, in nine innings to No. 10 Washington, before falling, 6-3, in the tournament finale to the Huskies.
“We didn’t play particularly well this past weekend and we were still in the position to win both games that we lost,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We’re disappointed, but we’ve got to move forward. We’re going to have a bunch of opportunities and we’ve got to get it started again against McNeese.”
Four Tigers were named to the Husky Softball Classic All-Tournament team, including Dee Dee Henderson, Leslie Klein, Killian Roessner and Emily Turner. Roessner also went on to be named the Southeastern Conference and LSWA Louisiana Hitter of the Week.
McNeese State comes into Wednesday’s game with a record of 9-18 overall and 2-1 in Southland Conference play. The Cowgirls are coming off a pair of run-rule losses to No. 4 Texas A&M at the Aggie Invitational last weekend, where McNeese State went 1-4 in the tournament.
Due to several key injuries, the Tigers have been forced to make some significant adjustments to the line-up as of late. With starters Tayl’r Hollis and Shannon Stein sidelined with broken fingers, and back-up Lindsey Hope also out with a broken finger, LSU has had to shift its entire infield. Erika Sluss may not play against the Cowgirls after a leg injury suffered at Washington.
The loss of these players has shifted Kristen Hobbs from catcher to first base, moving first baseman Vanessa Soto back to second, where she played the last two seasons. Without Sluss at third, left fielder Rachel Mitchell will likely fill the hot corner. Taking over in left will likely be Jazz Jackson, who has seen action in both left and right this year.
“You think that at this point in the season you would have your line-up in place,” said Girouard, “but when you have coached as long as I have, you see it all. We now have three players with broken fingers and one player on crutches and they all play in the infield, so it’s been quite a challenge to piece this puzzle together.”
Roessner has stepped up her play behind this plate and at the plate this year. The junior catcher is leading the Tigers with a .522 batting average, including nine doubles, three home runs and a .913 slugging percentage. Additionally, she has not committed an error in 166 chances, and now holds the LSU career record for fielding percentage.
Six starting Tigers are hitting over .300 on the season, including three batting over .300. As a team, LSU is hitting at a .357 clip including 46 doubles, seven triples and 24 home runs. In addition, the Tigers have stolen 45 bases in just 49 attempts.
Senior All-American Emily Turner is 7-2 on the season with a 1.34 earned run average. She took a shutout into the bottom of the ninth inning at Washington before giving up the game-winning home run. She has recorded a pair of complete-game shutouts on the season while striking out 75. Dani Hofer is 81 on the year with a 1.53 ERA. The sophomore has five complete-game shutouts and a combined shutout with 99 strikeouts.
As a team, the Tigers have a 1.21 earned run average and are allowing opponents to hit just .133 against them. In addition, LSU pitchers have struck out 224 batters, which averages out to over 10 strikeouts per seven innings.
McNeese State is hitting .227 as a team this season. The Cowgirls are led by Brooke Brodhead with a .337 average, including seven doubles, three home runs and 10 RBIs. Jenny Clay leads McNeese with 18 RBIs and is tied with Brodhead for the team lead with three homers. The Cowgirls have hit only 10 home runs as a team this year, but have stolen 36 bases, while being thrown out eight times.
Cori Bram leads McNeese with 13 appearances and a 4.17 earned run average in the circle. She has pitched 48.2 innings in her 12 starts while striking out 50 with two complete-game shutouts to record a 2-8 record. As a team, the Cowgirls have a 4.94 ERA with those two shutouts and 140 strikeouts.
LSU is 14-0 all-time against McNeese State, including a 3-1 win in nine innings in Lake Charles and a 1-0 win in Baton Rouge last season. LSU is also 70-2 all-time against Southland Conference opponents, including a 7-1 win over Texas State at the Crowne Plaza Invitational earlier this year. For her career, Girouard is 61-24 all-time against the McNeese State, with a 5-0 record while with the Tigers.
This weekend, the Tigers travel Oxford, Miss., to open SEC play against Ole Miss. LSU will take on the Rebels in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday before closing out the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 Poll
Week of Feb. 6-March 4
Team
Record
Points
PVS
1.
Tennessee (20)
20-0
500
1
2.
Arizona
14-3
467
2
3.
Alabama
21-0
465
3
4.
Texas A&M
19-2
424
5
5
Oklahoma
23-0
420
7
6
Arizona State
21-2
402
4
7.
Michigan
20-1
381
9
8.
Texas
17-3
344
10
9.
LSU
21-3
328
6
T10.
Washington
15-2
324
14
T10.
Northwestern
15-5
324
12
12.
Stanford
16-5
265
8
13
UL-Lafayette
20-4
259
11
14.
Baylor
20-4
221
16
15.
Oregon
20-2
217
17
16.
UCLA
15-6
213
15
17.
Oregon State
11-7
170
13
18.
Illinois State
15-5
148
25
19.
Georgia Tech
20-3
147
21
20.
Southern Illinois
14-3
127
22
21.
DePaul
12-5
52
RV
22.
California
13-8
45
18
23.
Georgia
15-8
43
23
24.
Florida
18-8
41
20
25.
NC State
14-6
34
RV
Parenthesis Denotes first place votes.
Others receiving votes:Virginia Tech (33), Florida State (32),South Carolina (24), Fullerton (21), Hawaii (13), Cal Poly (7) and South Florida (1).