BATON ROUGE — After going 4-0 last week, including a three-game Southeastern Conference series of then-nationally ranked Florida, the LSU softball team moved up three places and back into the Top 10 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll at No. 9, as the Tigers travel to face in-state rival Centenary on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Centenary Softball Complex.
After beginning the season at No. 7 in the preseason ESPN poll, LSU (28-4, 5-1 SEC) jumped as high as fifth before dropping down as far as No. 12 last week. Since ESPN and USA Softball began their softball poll on Feb. 25, 2003, the Tigers have been ranked in 60 of the 69 polls (.870). LSU has also been ranked in the top 10 for 28 weeks in the poll’s history.
Last weekend, the Tigers swept a three-game series from the Gators, including a 7-0 shutout and 4-1 win on Saturday, before completing the sweep on Sunday with a 2-1 victory. It marked the third straight year LSU has swept the season series with Florida as the Tigers have now won 10 straight over the Gators. In a mid-week game last Tuesday, LSU knocked off Texas-San Antonio, 3-0, in Baton Rouge and have now won all five mid-week games this year.
Leslie Klein was named the SEC and Louisiana Player of the Week after leading the Tigers with a .545 batting average, including a 1.091 slugging percentage, after going 6-for-11 at the plate. The Sunrise, Fla., native, recorded three doubles, four RBIs and a home run, while scoring three runs and stealing a pair of bases. With her first double against Florida, she broke the LSU career doubles record and has moved into a tie for seventh in career doubles in SEC history.
In the series finale with the Gators, she broke up a no-hitter by Stacey Nelson in the bottom of the fourth inning with a lead off solo home run that proved to be the game winner. It was the 27 th home run of her career, which put the two-time All-American in a tie for second in career home runs in school history.
Centenary enters Wednesday’s game with a record of 13-14. The Ladies have lost three straight and four of their last five, including a pair of losses to No. 5 Oklahoma. Earlier this season, the Tigers knocked off Centenary, 9-1, in five innings in the Easton Tiger Classic in Tiger Park.
“This is an opportunity to play in front of a great Tiger crowd in Shreveport,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “I have a lot of respect for (Centenary head coach) Mark (Montgomery) and his program. It is always fun for us to play there because it is a chance for LSU fans in north Louisiana to come out and watch us and there are always so many people that do come out to see the game.”
LSU is currently riding a 51-game winning streak against in-state opponents dating back to a 2-1 loss to UL-Lafayette on April 18, 2001. The Tigers are 103-4 all-time against Louisiana opponents, including undefeated marks against eight different teams, including Centenary. In 11 seasons of softball, LSU has only lost to two different in-state schools, with a lone loss in 12 meetings against Nicholls State and three losses in 15 meetings with the Lady Cajuns.
At the plate for the season, Tiger junior Dee Dee Henderson leads LSU with a .551 batting average. The Atlanta, Texas, native also leads the team with 21 stolen bases, and ranks fourth on the team with 24 runs scored. She is currently riding a 15-game hitting streak, which is tied for the longest hitting streak in LSU history.
Klein, junior Killian Roessner and freshman Jazz Jackson are all hitting over .400 for the Tigers, coming in at .443, .426 and .423 respectively. Klein leads the SEC with 13 doubles and broke the school career doubles record against Florida last Saturday. Roessner ranks second in the league with 10 doubles as LSU leads the SEC with 51 on the year.
As a team, the Tigers lead the SEC with a .338 batting average and a .421 on base percentage. LSU also leads the league with 278 hits and 172 RBIs. The Tigers are in the top three in the SEC in almost every statistical category. Despite stealing 61 bases in 67 attempts, LSU ranks only fourth in the conference in that category.
In the circle, junior Tiffany Garcia is 5-0 on the year with a 0.64 earned run average, while freshman Cody Trahan is also undefeated at 2-0 with a spotless 0.00 ERA. Sophomore Dani Hofer is 11-1 with a 1.20 earned run average, including a team-best 130 strikeouts in 81.2 innings. Senior All-American Emily Turner is 10-3 on the year with a 1.23 ERA and 101 strikeouts, while LSU boasts a 1.05 team ERA with 16 shutouts, while holding opponents to a meager .134 batting average.
Centenary is hitting .260 as a team this season. The Ladies are led by Emerald Doria with a .373 average, one of only two players, along with Micah Rhodes, who are batting over .300 on the season. Rhodes leads Centenary with 15 RBIs, followed by Doria with 14. As a team, the Ladies have hit 35 doubles, with just three triples and nine home runs on the year. In addition, they have stolen only 26 bases, while being thrown out eight times.
Stacy Whitmer leads Centenary with 20 appearances and six wins, posting a 6-5 record. She has recorded 36 strikeouts in 62 innings with a 5.19 earned run average. Kelsey Greeson leads the Ladies with a 3.98 ERA, while posting a 4-4 record in 18 appearances, followed by Ryan Thacker with a 4.07 ERA in 15 appearances. As a team, Centenary has a 4.44 earned run average with one shutout and 107 strikeouts in 171.2 innings.
LSU is 12-0 all-time against Centenary including an 11-0 record in Baton Rouge and a 1-0 record in Shreveport. The Ladies are the only Mid-Continent Conference team to ever face the Tigers. For her career, Girouard is 40-1 all-time against Centenary, including a 6-0 record while at LSU, with her lone loss to the Ladies coming while she was the head coach at UL-Lafayette.
The Tigers returns to SEC play this weekend against No. 2-ranked Alabama at Tiger Park. LSU will host the nationally ranked Crimson Tide in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
It will mark the annual “Bark in the Park” weekend as dog owners are encouraged to bring their family friendly canines to Tiger Park on a leash on both days. The first 100 dogs will receive free LSU “Geaux Dog Geaux” collars and an extreme canine stunt dog act will perform on Saturday between the doubleheader.
The first game of Saturday’s doubleheader will be televised live on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37. The series finale on Sunday will be televised by SEC-TV on regional television in Baton Rouge on Fox Sports Southwest on cable channel 38.
ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 Poll
Week of March 20
Rank
Team
Record
Points
PVS
1.
Tennessee (11)
28-2
483
1
2.
Alabama (7)
28-1
478
2
3.
Oklahoma (2)
33-2
455
6
4.
Texas A&M
25-3
452
3
5
Arizona
21-7
404
5
6
Michigan
23-3
384
7
7.
Arizona State
29-5
380
4
8.
Northwestern
19-5
376
9
9.
LSU
28-4
343
12
10
Stanford
21-5
303
11
11.
Texas
23-6
300
8
T12.
Baylor
27-8
262
10
T12
Oregon
30-3
262
14
14.
UCLA
22-6
236
15
15.
UL-Lafayette
28-7
227
16
16.
Washington
20-7
209
13
17.
Illinois State
23-6
159
17
18.
DePaul
16-6
150
21
19.
Georgia
26-9
124
19
20.
Georgia Tech
27-7
103
18
21.
Oregon State
20-10
94
20
22.
Southern Illinois
21-5
62
23
23.
Hawaii
27-7
54
25
24.
Virginia Tech
24-9
50
NR
25.
NC State
21-11
46
NR
Parenthesis Denotes first place votes.
Others receiving votes:Florida(29), North Carolina (23), California (13), Fresno State (10), Cal Poly (8),South Carolina(7), Florida State (4), Nebraska (4), Penn State (4), Cal State Fullerton (2).