BATON ROUGE – The LSU softball team continued its second week of practice Friday with a five inning scrimmage at Tiger Park. The Tigers are slated to scrimmage again Saturday at Noon to conclude their second week of practice.
Highlights from Friday’s scrimmage included a Jessica Mouse RBI-single in the second inning to score Allison Falcon, who reached on a one-out double. LSU’s pitching staff racked up nine strikeouts, including multiple K’s from Rachele Fico, Brittany Mack and Kirsten Shortridge.
“The attitude of the team has been incredible and it’s exciting to go out to the park each day to be around this group of players,” Girouard said. “They truly understand all aspects of what it means to be a LSU softball player. Yesterday afternoon was a glaring example of that. The team elected to stay after and practice on their own because they felt they didn’t have a good practice. I haven’t seen that in a long time. They’re doing the right things to be the best they can be and that’s all you can ask for as a coach.”
At this time last season, LSU was limited with how much they could practice at Tiger Park due to the ongoing construction. Girouard feels that the offense has made monumental strides in its new home heading into the park’s second season.
“We’ve started to hit the ball extremely well,” Girouard said. “The players have put in an incredible amount of work and taken a lot of swings over the last two weeks. I think how big the park played was a shock to everyone, especially to someone like Rachel Mitchell. She’s made the adjustments, looks phenomenal and has turned back the clock to her freshman and sophomore years as far as her power. Our entire offense is way ahead of the curve because things are so settled this season.”
LSU is three weeks away from opening the 2010 season at the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational against North Carolina, DePaul and host Texas, a trio of 2009 NCAA Tournament squads.
“There are very few things that we have to clean up and clear up with the players from an execution standpoint,” Girouard said. “It’s all about getting reps every day and feeling comfortable with the player next to you going forward. Our job as coaches is to figure out the way to put the nine best players that click together most efficiently as a unit on the field.”