BATON ROUGE ? After going 3-1 last week, including a series win over then No. 2-ranked Alabama, the LSU softball team moved up three places in the ESPN/USA Softball poll to No. 6, as the Tigers prepare to travel to in-state rival McNeese State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Cowgirl Diamond.
After beginning the season at No. 7 in the preseason ESPN poll, LSU (31-5) jumped as high as fifth before dropping down to No. 12 two weeks ago. Since ESPN and USA Softball began their softball poll on Feb. 25, 2003, the Tigers have been ranked in 61 of the 69 polls (.884). LSU has also been ranked in the top 10 for 29 weeks in the poll’s history.
Last weekend, LSU took two out of three from No. 2-ranked Alabama at Tiger Park. The Tigers lost the first game, 6-0, but came back to win game two, 5-4, in eight innings on a two-out walk-off RBI double by SEC Player of the Week Andrea Smith. In the series finale, LSU shut out Alabama, 3-0, marking the first time the Crimson Tide had been shut out since falling to No. 1 Arizona, 2-0, on March 18, 2006. It also marked the first SEC shutout for Alabama since April 2, 2005, when Ole Miss won, 3-0.
McNeese State comes into Wednesday’s game with a record of 14-23 overall and 4-5 in Southland Conference play. The Cowgirls dropped 2-of-3 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last weekend, but have won five of their last eight overall.
“We know that in going to McNeese for a mid-week game, we will get their best shot, as we always do,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “The park will be filled to capacity because it always seems to be when we go to their place. We know they will be at the top of their game, so we can’t lose site of the fact that we have to continue to play Tiger softball anytime we take the field.”
This will be the second meeting for LSU and McNeese State this season after the Tigers topped the Cowgirls, 7-1, in Tiger Park on March 7. Emily Turner earned the win in the first game, settling down in the fourth to retire 10 straight after fiving up an RBI double in the third, before striking out the final two batters of the game.
Kristen Hobbs and Vanessa Soto each recorded home runs for the Tigers. As a team, LSU recorded 12 hits on the night, with six coming from the top two batters in the line-up. Jazz Jackson led the way with her third 4-for-4 performance of the year. Dee Dee Henderson finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a pair of stolen bases. Leslie Klein added to her school record for multiple-RBI games with two, while Soto and Killian Roessner each had two RBIs as well.
For the season, Henderson leads the Tigers with a .469 batting average and 21 stolen bases. Roessner ranks second with a .434 mark, including 10 doubles, five home runs and 28 RBIs. Klein leads LSU and the SEC with 14 doubles, while coming in with a .432 average, three triples, four home runs, 36 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Jackson is the fourth Tiger topping the .400 mark at .417, including 11 stolen bases.
As a team, LSU is hitting at a .332 clip including an SEC-best 59 doubles, seven triples and 30 home runs. The Tigers are averaging over six runs per game, while allowing just over a run in return. In addition, the Tigers have stolen 61 bases in just 67 attempts this season.
Sophomore Dani Hofer leads LSU with a 12-1 record on the year, while posting a 1.31 earned run average, seven complete-game shutouts and 138 strikeouts. Against second-ranked Alabama, she picked up a win and a save, combining with Emily Turner to shutout the Crimson Tide in the series finale. Turner is 11-4 on the season with a 1.37 ERA, while recording three complete-game shutouts and 110 strikeouts.
Factoring in Cody Trahan‘s 3-0 record and spotless 0.00 ERA, and Tiffany Garcia‘s 5-0 mark and 1.04 ERA, the Tigers have a team 1.18 earned run average this season. Opponents are hitting just .152 against LSU pitchers, as the Tigers have recorded 17 shutouts in 26 games with 314 strikeouts.
McNeese State is hitting .227 as a team this season. The Cowgirls are led by Brooke Brodhead with a .350 average, including nine doubles, seven home runs and 18 RBIs. Jenny Clay leads McNeese with 20 RBIs, while ranking second on the team with a .286 average. The Cowgirls have hit only 16 home runs as a team this year, while stealing 41 bases and being thrown out 12 times.
Rachel Hodlik leads McNeese with 17 appearances, while coming in with a 5-6 record and 5.13 earned run average in the circle. Cori Bram leads the Cowgirls with a 3.26 earned run average in 16 appearances, while posting a 3-9 record and all three of McNeese’s complete-game shutouts. As a team, the Cowgirls have a 4.16 ERA with four shutouts and 183 strikeouts.
LSU is 15-0 all-time against McNeese State, including a 7-1 win in Baton Rouge in March. LSU is also 72-2 all-time against Southland Conference opponents, including a 3-0 mark this year. For her career, Girouard is 62-24 all-time against the McNeese State, with a 6-0 record while with the Tigers.
LSU returns to conference play next weekend at Auburn. The Fighting Tigers will take on AU in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1p.m. LSU will return home next week for a mid-week doubleheader against Kentucky next Tuesday before hosting South Carolina in a three-game series on Easter weekend, with a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday.
ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 Poll
Week of March 27
Rank
Team
Record
Points
PVS
1.
Tennessee (17)
33-2
497
1
2.
Texas A&M (1)
28-3
469
4
3.
Oklahoma (1)
36-3
465
3
4.
Alabama (1)
31-3
426
2
5
Arizona
24-7
422
5
6
LSU
31-5
389
9
7.
Northwestern
24-6
377
8
8.
Michigan
25-5
350
6
9.
Arizona State
34-7
338
7
10
Texas
25-7
309
11
11.
Stanford
24-6
294
10
12.
Baylor
31-8
289
T12
13.
Oregon
34-3
276
T12
14.
UCLA
24-6
258
14
15.
UL-Lafayette
32-7
210
15
16.
Washington
21-7
204
16
17.
Illinois State
27-7
168
17
18.
DePaul
20-7
144
18
19.
Oregon State
24-10
128
21
20.
Southern Illinois
27-5
116
22
21.
Hawaii
33-7
75
23
22.
Florida
27-14
63
RV
23.
North Carolina
32-8
58
RV
24.
Georgia Tech
29-10
56
20
25.
Virginia Tech
26-10
50
24
Parenthesis Denotes first place votes.
Others receiving votes: Georgia (28), Fresno State (12), Cal Poly (9), California (4), Kansas (4), Florida State (3), NC State (3), South Carolina (2), Creighton (1), Cal State Fullerton (1), Liberty (1), Penn State (1).