COLUMBIA, S.C. — Having won four straight and five of its last six, the 15th-ranked LSU softball team travels to face South Carolina in a three-game Southeastern Conference series to close out the 2008 regular season.
The Tigers (39-14, 15-10 SEC) will take on the Gamecocks (20-24, 7-16 SEC) in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon CDT before the series concludes with a single game on Sunday at noon CDT. LSU is assured a bid to the SEC Tournament next weekend and is in a fight with Tennessee over the third seed. South Carolina, however, is fighting for a bid in the tournament as the Gamecocks need to take two out of three this weekend to pass Ole Miss for the eighth and final tournament spot.
“This is a great opportunity to improve our seeding,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “Our goal now is to finish third and that is a very realistic goal for us. We know it will be a tough task because South Carolina is fighting for its life. It is also their senior day, which is a very emotional time for any team and gives them an added reason to win.”
All three games of the series will be broadcast in Baton Rouge on The X ? 104.5/104.9 FM and also in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. In addition, all three games will have live stats available on LSUsports.net.
Entering the final series in SEC play, LSU is fourth in the league standings, sitting behind third-place Tennessee by mere percentage points. The Tigers need to win one more game that the Lady Vols do this weekend to pass Tennessee for the third seed in the tournament. The Lady Vols will host top-seeded Florida, which has won 29-straight, this weekend.
Following last weekend’s play, the NCAA released its third RPI rankings of the season, which are used for NCAA Regional seeding purposes. After coming in fifth in the first rankings, the Tigers have remained at No. 7 in the last two rankings. LSU is considered to have the second-toughest strength of schedule in the nation, behind only Arizona, which is ranked No. 8 in the RPI.
“Hopefully we will just continue to play like we have been,” said Girouard. “It seems like we’ve been improving slowly and it is coming at the right time.”
Conference rivals Florida and Alabama sit at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, while Tennessee is No. 9, Georgia is No. 15, Auburn is No. 18 and Mississippi State is No. 19, giving the SEC and amazing four teams ranked in the top 10 and seven teams ranked in the top 20. All but one of the league’s teams are ranked in the top 50, with South Carolina coming in at No. 50.
South Carolina has now lost nine straight games, all in SEC play, which has put it in the position to miss the tournament for the first time since 2006. The Gamecocks have managed to score only three total runs in their nine games, which include sweeps by No. 1 Alabama, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
Sophomore Rachel Mitchell has extended her streak at the plate. Over the last 19 games, the outfielder is hitting at a .500 clip, which included a 10-game hitting streak and currently includes a seven-game hitting streak. She has posted three doubles, a triple, six homers, 19 RBIs and scored 13 runs. Senior Quinlan Duhon has also been on a hit streak, hitting safely in the last five games. The outfielder is batting .420 with four doubles, four home runs, 10 RBIs and 11 runs scored.
For the season, Mitchell leads LSU with a .379 average, including a team-best 46 RBIs and 39 runs scored, while tying for the team lead with 10 home runs and three triples. In addition, she is one off the pace for the team high with 12 doubles and has also stolen 10 bases, the third most on the team.
Dee Dee Henderson leads the Tigers with 32 stolen bases, just the second player in LSU softball history to record 30 steals in a single season. For her career, Henderson ranks second in career stolen bases in school history and sixth in SEC history. Jazz Jackson has posted a career-best 20 stolen bases, followed by Mitchell and Tiffany Shaw with 10.
Ashton Payne leads South Carolina with a .331 batting average for the season, followed by Jill Semento at .300, the only two Gamecocks hitting .300 for the season. Semento leads her team with 18 RBIs and five home runs, while Laura Mendes has 14 RBIs. Having stolen only 11 total bases for the year, South Carolina is led by Whitney Wierzbicki with a perfect 5-for-5, followed by Payne with 3-for-4.
As a team, the Tigers are hitting .286 for the season, the fifth best average in the conference. LSU has recorded 63 doubles with eight triples and 49 home runs. The Tigers are averaging just over five runs a game, having scored 271 runs this season. LSU also ranks fourth in the conference with 92 stolen bases, having been thrown out only 11 times all season.
As a team, South Carolina has been one of the worst offensive teams in the SEC. The Gamecocks are 10th out of 11 teams with a .228 batting average and are last with a .310 slugging percentage and .293 on base percentage. In 44 games, South Carolina has scored only 107 runs, last in the conference, for an average of only 2.4 runs per game. The Gamecocks are also last in the league in home runs, walks and stolen bases.
Despite being sidelined with a wrist injury, Dani Hofer leads LSU in the circle with an 18-7 record and a 1.90 earned run average. The junior recorded 210 strikeouts in 29 appearances to average over 10 strikeouts per seven innings before getting hurt and being forced to sit out the last seven games. Hofer’s status remains day-to-day, but she is likely out for this weekend once again.
Sophomore Cody Trahan has stepped in with the loss of Hofer and performance outstandingly. The hurler is 4-0 since becoming LSU’s No. 1 pitcher, including a win over nationally ranked Tennessee and all three wins in the Tigers’ sweep of Arkansas last weekend. For the season, she is 15-4 with a 2.03 earned run average. She boasts 109 strikeouts, while one-hitting nationally ranked Georgia in the first SEC series of the season and not allowing an earned run in her last 14.2 innings of work.
Freshman Casey Faile and senior Tiffany Garcia have stepped in to share time at the No. 2 position. Faile is 3-1 on the season with a 2.44 earned run average, having one-hit UL-Monroe on the road. Garcia is 3-2 with a 3.32 earned run average for the season, posting a one-hit shutout of Southeastern Louisiana on the road earlier this week.
South Carolina has utilized only three pitchers all season. Melissa Hendon leads the Gamecocks with an 8-14 record and a 1.74 earned run average. She has struck out a team-best 138 and recorded five complete-game shutouts. Kate Pouliot is 5-4 with a 1.84 earned run average, while Krystle Robinson is 7-6 with a 2.65 earned run average.
The Tigers are eighth in the SEC and 55th in the nation with a 2.20 earned run average. LSU ranks second in the conference with 400 strikeouts and is fourth in the league with a .204 opponents batting average. The Tigers are fourth in the SEC and 14th nationally with a .975 fielding percentage, the highest fielding percentage by LSU in school history.
South Carolina ranks fifth in the conference with a 2.04 earned run average. The Gamecocks are allowing opponents to hit .204 against them. With 276 strikeouts, South Carolina ranks eighth in the league, averaging only 6.54 strikeouts per seven innings.
Last season, the Tigers earned the series win by taking two out of three from the Gamecocks. LSU dropped the first game, 2-1, but came back for a run rule, 8-0, in game two before winning the rubber match, 2-0. The Tigers then went on to earn an extra-inning win over South Carolina in the first round of the SEC Tournament. LSU is 23-11 all-time against the Gamecocks, including a 7-5 record in Baton Rouge. Girouard is 37-10 all-time against South Carolina, including an 18-6 mark while at LSU.
LSU will return home to host the 2008 SEC Softball Tournament from May 8-10. The Tournament will feature the top eight teams in the league in a single-elimination format that will determine who receives the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. LSU has won five of the previous 11 tournament titles, the most of any school in the league, and the Tigers are the defending tournament champion, defeating Florida, 1-0 in nine innings in Auburn last season.
SERIES FACTS
No. 15 LSU Tigers (38-14, 15-10 SEC) vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (20-24, 7-16 SEC)
DATE/TIME
Saturday, May 3 ? Noon CDT (DH)
Sunday, May 4 ? Noon CDT
STADIUM
Beckham Field in Columbia, S.C.
RADIO
LSU Sports Radio Network (WNXX-FM, The X -104.5/104.9 in Baton Rouge)
INTERNET
Live audio and stats in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net
TV
None
SERIES RECORD
LSU leads 23-11