BATON ROUGE — The No. 19 LSU softball team returns to action Wednesday for a mid-week contest against Nicholls at the new Tiger Park.
LSU (11-4) is 15-1 all-time against Nicholls (16-5) and have won 15 consecutive games in the series since the 1998 season. The Tigers also have won 69 of 73 decisions against Louisiana schools under head coach Yvette Girouard.
LSU enters Wednesday’s game winners of five straight and is hitting .342 as a team during the streak. The Tigers emerged with a 3-1 win over Southern Miss last Wednesday before getting rained out over the weekend at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
“When you get into a groove, you want to stay in that groove,” Girouard said. “No one wants to sit in a hotel room for three days and watch it rain. Nicholls is playing well and like the other state schools, their goal is to beat LSU. The Tigers have to be ready to play because the Colonels will be.”
LSU sports a balanced offensive attack with six players registering five or more RBIs. Kirsten Shortridge paces LSU with a .400 batting average from the leadoff spot and knocked home seven of her team-leading 10 RBIs over her current five-game hitting streak. She also has recorded nine of LSU’s 15 stolen bases this season.
Rachel Mitchell and Anissa Young are tied for second on the team with eight RBIs apiece, while Ashley Applegate has already matched her RBI total from last season with six in 15 games.
“The players have been watching video and working on fundamentals in the batting cages,” Girouard said. “We know that we have excellent hitters and we’re going to get better at producing in those primetime situations with runners on-base sooner or later.”
Cody Trahan has racked up back-to-back wins to go along with her staff-low 1.03 ERA in the circle. She has been touched up for only pair of hits and notched a combined 14 strikeouts over her last two starts.
Brittany Mack has won four of her five decisions with a 1.98 ERA on the season and allowed only one earned run in her last 18.1 innings of work.
“Cody is getting stronger each time she pitches,” Girouard said. “Our game plan is to give each one of our pitches a couple of innings.”
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Cox Sports Television. LSUSports.net also will provide live stats for the game.