BATON ROUGE — The No. 19 LSU softball team looks to bounce back from a weekend sweep against top-ranked Florida as it concludes the non-conference portion of its schedule Wednesday at McNeese State.
LSU (27-13-1) was swept at home and shutout for all three games of a SEC weekend series for the first time since the Tennessee series in 2005.
“We’re ready to move forward and get back on the field,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “It’s important for us to get back on track and start the stretch run on a good note. I’m sure we’ll pack the park in Lake Charles, and they’ll give us their best shot.”
The Tigers are 5-0 this season and have racked up an impressive 71-4 mark under Giroaurd against Louisiana schools.
LSU is hitting .331 as a team against in-state foes highlighted by Kirsten Shortridge and Rachel Mitchell, who have combine for a .515 batting average going 17-for-33 with nine RBIs. The duo also has combined to swipe seven stolen bases.
Jazz Jackson is batting .429 and platted LSU’s lone RBI in the Tigers 6-0 win over McNeese State earlier this season. LSU reeled off five unearned runs in the fifth inning. Cody Trahan, Casey Faile and Brittany Mack combined for a two-hit shutout in the circle.
Ashley Applegate and Anissa Young are hitting .364 and .333, respectively and teamed up for seven RBIs of their own.
In the circle, Faile and Mack sport identical 2-0 records with 0.54 ERA’s versus in-state opponents this season. LSU’s pitching staff has tallied 42 strikeouts and limited opponents to a .157 average over 32 innings of work.
“We’ll go with Casey and Kirsten in the circle,” Girouard said. “This way we can give Cody and Brittany some much-needed rest for our weekend series against South Carolina.”
LSU has won all 17 previous meetings with the Cowgirls (23-25), including four victories in Lake Charles. The Tigers also check in at No. 19 and No. 21 in this week’s editions of the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 polls that were released Tuesday.
First pitch against the Cowgirls is slated for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted live on The X 104.5 and 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area. Patrick Wright and Matt Dunaway are set to call all of the action and live stats also will be available on LSUSports.net.