BATON ROUGE — LSU put away the weights and the off-season conditioning drills on Wednesday night as the Tigers took part in a team building exercise in the form of a slow pitch softball tournament at a local ballpark south of campus.
The event, which was held for a second straight year, had the football squad being divided into eight 12-man teams. Each squad played two games with the two teams with the best record squaring off in the championship game.
“The players have worked so hard this summer in the weight room, it’s nice to be able to get away for a few hours and enjoy a team function outside of football,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “It’s fun to watch. You can tell which players have a baseball background and which ones have never really played the game before.
“This event is a great opportunity for us to bond together as a team in a way different than what we do each day within our football program. You can watch the players and see that this is something that they enjoy and that they are really having a good time. I think it’s events like this that really brings a team closer together.”
The event wasn’t just for the players as the coaching and support staffs also got involved. Members of the coaching staff served as umpires for the tournament, which included offensive line coach Greg Studrawa handling home plate umpire duties for the championship game.
Several members of the support staff ? including Charles Baglio, Doug Aucoin, and Greg Stringfellow – cooked hot dogs and sausage po-boys for the players.
“This was a fun event for everyone on the staff and the entire team,” Miles said.
The championship game featured Team 3, led by wide receiver/first baseman Chris Mitchell and quarterback/shortstop Andrew Hatch, against Team 7, which was led third baseman/running back Charles Scott and shortstop/offensive guard Lyle Hitt.
Team 7 took an early 1-0 lead in the title game, scoring on an error in the top half of the first inning. The score remained that way until the bottom of the third inning when Team 3 pushed across three runs. John Williams tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI triple in the bottom of the third and Shomari Clemons broke the tie with an RBI double.
Down 3-1 in the fourth and final inning, Team 7 erupted for seven runs, which included Scott knocking in Hitt for the go-ahead run. Team 3 added one run in the bottom of the fourth inning but it wasn’t enough as Team 7 captured an 8-4 victory.
Patrick Lipoma, a running back, picked up the victory for Team 7, going all four innings and allowing just two earned runs. Kellen Theriot, a true freshman linebacker, got the loss for Team 3.
Other highlights during the tournament include defensive back Chad Jones with a nearly 400-foot home run during one of the early games as well as a home run by Trindon Holliday.
In addition to the tournament, the Tigers also held their own version of Home Run Derby with senior safety Curtis Taylor taking the crown with four home runs.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Scott said of the softball tournament. “It’s the second year in a row that I’ve been on the championship team. It’s nice to come out and get a break from our summer routine to play some softball.”