BATON ROUGE — Due to the rainy, wintery conditions in Baton Rouge on Saturday morning, the LSU softball scrimmage scheduled for 10 a.m. at Tiger Park has been cancelled.
The team will return to its regular practice schedule on Monday with team practice at 2 p.m.
Original Release: Jan. 17, 2008
BATON ROUGE — Before coming out to join in the excitement of the National Championship Celebration with the football team on Saturday afternoon, the LSU softball team wants fans to stop by Tiger Park to watch the 2008 squad as it holds an intrasquad scrimmage at 10 a.m.
Fans can get their first look at the defending Southeastern Conference Tournament champions as well as get a glimpse of the 11 returning players and five newcomers. The Tigers have been practicing for two weeks and have a month before kicking off the season in the Easton Tiger Classic on Feb. 15.
The Tigers return 11 letterwinners from the 2007 squad that advanced to their second-straight NCAA Super Regionals, winning the NCAA Regional in Palo Alto, Calif., after earning the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning their fifth SEC Tournament title.
National Fastpitch Coaches Association first-team All-American and Diamond Sports Catcher of the Year Killian Roessner returns for her final season; while Academic All-American Dee Dee Henderson; All-SEC selections Dani Hofer and Jazz Jackson; and NCAA Palo Alto Regional MVP Rachel Mitchell also return to action for the Tigers.
Fans will also get the chance to meet five new freshmen standouts, including Starla Guffey of St. Amant, a first-team NFCA High School All-American and the Diamond Sports National High School Catcher of the Year; Jessica Mouse of Tampa, Fla., and Tiffany Shaw of Shreveport, who both earned NFCA first-team High School All-America honors.
The Tigers will host St John’s, Ball State, Nicholls State and Chattanooga in the three-day Easton Tiger Classic at Tiger Park from Feb. 15-17. LSU will take on St. John’s on Feb. 15 at 3:30 p.m., before taking on Ball State at 5:45 p.m. The Tigers will then face Nicholls State on Feb. 16 at 1:30 p.m. and Chattanooga at 3:45 p.m. Championship play will take place on Feb. 17, with the championship game taking place at 2 p.m.
The SEC Tournament will be held at Tiger Park for the first time in May 2008. The three-day single-elimination tournament will determine the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. LSU has advanced to the championship game eight times in the last nine seasons, winning the title an unprecedented five times, including last season when the Tigers defeated Florida, 1-0, in nine innings.
The Tournament, which features the top eight teams in the league regardless of division, will begin on Thursday, May 8 with games at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The semifinals will be played on Friday, May 9 at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The championship game will be held on Saturday, May 10 at 12:30 p.m. and be televised on Fox Sports.
Tickets for the tournament will go on sale at the LSU Ticket Office, along with regular season tickets, on Jan. 28. Tournament books are available for $20 each for adults and $10 each for youth between the ages of 3 and 12. All children under three get into Tiger Park for free.
Season tickets will be available for $60 for reserved seats, while single-game tickets are available at a cost of $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Fans are encouraged to get their season tickets this season to guarantee great seats in the new Tiger Park for next season. Fans can purchase tickets online at the official web site of LSU Athletics, www.LSUsports.net, at the ticket office or call (225) 578-2184 or (800) 960-8587. LSU students, faculty and staff are admitted free to regular season games with an LSU ID.
Last season, the Tigers averaged a school-record attendance of 824 in 21 dates at Tiger Park. For the second-straight season, LSU also recorded 30 wins at home, going 30-4 on the year. The Tigers own a spectacular 308-45 record in 11 seasons at Tiger Park.
LSU will move to its new home next season. The new stadium will be located on Skip Bertman Drive, across from the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and adjacent to the LSU Women’s Soccer Complex. The stadium is expected to be completed in time for the Tigers to play their first game in the new facility in the spring of 2009.
The new Tiger Park will feature 1,289 seats? including 587 chair-back seats? and the capability of accommodating 1,200 more fans on an outfield berm. The softball stadium will also feature first-class team facilities, including a locker room, team lounge, meeting facility, training facility, equipment room, indoor batting cages and umpire locker rooms.
You can join in the success of the project by following the construction phases of the stadium and making an online contribution by accessing www.MakeYourPitch.net/tigerpark, the official web site of the new Tiger softball stadium.