BATON ROUGE – The No. 18 LSU softball team held its annual media day Tuesday at Tiger Park. Head coach Yvette Girouard along with associate head coach James DeFeo and assistant coach Kristen Hobbs addressed the media to preview the upcoming season for the Tigers.
Afterwards, infielders Jessica Mouse and Juliana Santos met with the media for one-one-one sessions in the locker room.
The Tigers square off against No. 19 North Carolina, No. 21 DePaul and host Texas, a trio of 2009 NCAA Tournament squads, at the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational starting on Friday.
Season and individual game tickets are on-sale now and can be purchased online on LSUSports.net, the official Web site of LSU Athletics. Tickets also can be purchased in person at the ticket office on the first floor of the Athletics Administration Building or by calling (225) 578-2184 or (800) 960-8587.
Fans are encouraged to get their season tickets to guarantee great seats for LSU’s impressive home slate that features 16 games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams highlighted by match-ups against Michigan and Georgia, a pair of Women’s College World Series squads.
The entire session can be viewed for free in the Geaux Zone and a transcript is listed below.
LSU Head Coach Yvette Girouard
Opening Statement
“First of all, I want to thank you [the media] for coming out to your one-stop shop for softball. We’re so extremely proud of it and it’s still in the works. We’re going to add a few more things as we go along and it’s going to keep changing over the years to make it unquestionably the most beautiful softball facility in the country.”
“I want to start off with ‘Who Dat?’ because I’m one of the biggest Who Dats out there. I ingrained my team for about a month during the playoffs, and everyone was on board except for one of our silly student trainers who was for the Colts. He had to wear beads during the entire practice yesterday and acquiesce that the Saints were indeed the Super Bowl champions. What’s really funny about that, too, is that we have a tradition here where, when we coach, the players have to respond with ‘RBI.’ It’s an aggressive move back to the coaches saying, ‘We understand. We’re going to come back better.’ Well, they’ve taken it upon themselves to change that tradition and now they’re saying ‘Who Dat?’ back to me. It’s filtered certainly down to softball.”
“We’re extremely excited about this year’s team from the get-go. We have a coach’s creed that we’ve talked to them about that every day we will strive for perfection. We know that no team or any player can be perfect, but while we’re striving for perfection, we just might land on excellence. None of us are infatuated with just being merely good. That’s a Vince Lombardi’s statement. I didn’t say it exactly right, but that’s our motto from the coaching staff to the players this season. We’re not interested in being good. This team has definite possibilities of being great. We’re very excited about them. They get it.”
“Our team GPA was a 3.2 in the fall, which was the highest GPA since I’ve been here. They’re [a] low-maintenance [team], they’re extremely grateful for everything the University has given us in this facility. They also have tremendous team chemistry and I look forward to seeing them every day, much less coaching them.”
“Our team had a first this year. We did a season ticket delivery personally to the Baton Rouge community. It went over phenomenally. We want the community, our season ticket [holders] and our fans to take ownership of their Tiger softball team. It’s our goal to one day rival the monster across the street [Alex Box Stadium] in atmosphere. It’s also our goal to sell Tiger Park out too, one day. I think we have the team that’s going to start us on that path.”
On Opening Weekend in Austin
“The schedule is a very aggressive start in Austin. We could have padded it. We could have opened up at home with six easy wins, but we’re challenging ourselves immediately off the bat with the schedule in Austin. North Carolina returns an All-ACC pitcher and player [Danielle Spaulding]. I’m sure we’re going to get everyone’s best shot and No. 1 pitcher because we’re the highest-ranked team in the tournament.
On the Home Schedule
“We come home to a mid-week game [next Wednesday] to open up season two in Tiger Park, and then we have a fabulous tournament schedule where we’ll play three times at home on weekends. We’ll have some new teams coming into Tiger Park with Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Michigan, who won the College World Series a couple years ago. We also have Houston, who’s very good, and Jacksonville State, who was in the Super Regionals last year.”
“We’re on national television on ESPN against Georgia on a Thursday night [April 29]. We’ll play Thursday and Friday night instead because we will be the premier 7 p.m. contest on ESPN that night. The next day we come back with a doubleheader and the second game will be on ESPNU.
On the SEC Road Schedule
“The road schedule in the SEC is a tough one. That’s why we opened up so tough on the road [on opening weekend]. Our road schedule, especially during our spring break, encompasses Florida and Alabama back-to-back within three days. That’s going to be as tough as you could ever write it up. We believe we have the team to compete with anyone on our schedule.
On Kirsten Shortridge
“Kirsten Shortridge, our returning senior pitcher, has looked phenomenal. As you saw last year, Kirsten was everything we built her up to be. She is a woman among children out there sometimes. Not only is she our leadoff hitter, she’s our starting centerfielder, she could be our starting pitcher, and she led the team in just about every category. We look forward to a humongous year from Kirsten Shortridge.”
On Brittany Mack
“Brittany Mack also has looked phenomenal. We lost her at the end of last season with two stress fractures in her forearm. She’s come back and looks wonderful. I’ve said from the get-go that Brittany has all the tools to be the next All-American pitcher at LSU. We’ve just got to let her be her own best fan instead of her own worst enemy, and we’re working extremely hard on that.”
On Casey Faile and Rachele Fico
“Casey Faile can give us some innings and also has a very legitimate bat in our lineup. And then there’s Rachele Fico, who when all is said and done, is going to be an amazing pitcher for LSU. We’re starting to see her kick it into another gear. She has incredible work ethic and knowledge in the circle that is beyond her maturation level. She gets it. She has a feel for her pitches and knows how to set up hitters. We’re really looking forward to her career here at LSU.”
On the Catchers
“I thought catching was an area that we needed to shore up. Morgan Russell worked very hard over the summer and looks so much better. I think a little competition always helps athletes. Lauren Houston can be a phenomenal player, but right now she has a little bit of the ‘deer in the headlights’ look. She needs to get over that because she can be a really good player.”
“I’m not very concerned with how young the catchers are. I’m one of those coaches that would like my catchers to call the pitches at some point, but we will be doing that from the dugout this season. We scrimmage a lot and I think that helps them.”
On the SEC
“Alabama is the preseason favorite and I voted for them. They return both pitchers [Kelsi Dunne and Charlotte Morgan] who have gotten them to the College World Series the past couple of season and they return some very good players. Florida lost a lot of pitching on the mound [Stacey Nelson] but they are a very good program. They return a lot of their offensive weapons. They will be the two teams to beat.”
“Georgia came out of nowhere last year and did a phenomenal job at the College World Series. You can’t take a day off anymore in the SEC. When I first got here, we were so far ahead of the rest of the schools in the conference and it wasn’t even close. Now the conference is 13 years old and you only have two original coaches. All the stadiums have been built and attracts better players. It shows with how many teams are ranked in the Top 10. Our softball rivals football, basketball, and women’s basketball. It’s phenomenal when you see nine SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament last season.”
On the shift of power from the West Coast to the South
“We’ve been trying to break that door down. A lot more people in the South are playing softball and most of those California kids are willing to leave now. It used to be that those kids stayed on the west coast, but they now see that the SEC has facilities like ours. They see the spirit of a school like LSU with football, baseball, and basketball so they’re so much more willing to leave. I think that’s why you see the country starting to have some parity.”
On Team’s Comfort Level with Tiger Park
“We had one full practice here before we played last season. The wind will change 15 different times between every pitch because we are so close to river. I think that got into some of our hitters heads last year. In batting practice when the wind is blowing in, you can’t hit it out of here where at the old tiger park the balls were sailing to the dorms across the street. We’re adjusted to it a little more now after having a full fall season and preseason practices here. We are far more at home now than we ever were last season.”
On if Rachele Fico is ready to pitch in big games
“We’re going to find out but I would say yes right now. She didn’t do so well [two years ago] when she pitched against the Olympic team. However, she has the mentality to handle it, doesn’t get shaken, doesn’t get upset and is mature for her age. She wants the ball at practice every day and wants to throw live. I think she’s going to be able to handle it. She just wants to get better and better. She is a sponge.”
On Rachele Fico‘s control
“I think her greatest asset is that she’s going to hit the target wherever you put the glove. We’ve worked really hard on a change-up and she’s done a great job. She can work both sides of the plate and then throw that change-up so it could be devastating. She throws hard and isn’t a big girl by softball pitching standards. She is one of those athletic freaks that shouldn’t throw as hard as she does.”
On the Rachele Fico hype
“We’ve tried to stifle a little bit of that. She doesn’t have to be the No. 1 pitcher now because we have a lot of talented pitchers. If she wants to be then great, I think she has the potential. So does Brittany Mack. When we came out of fall practice, all the other players thought Brittany was the best [pitcher] on the staff. We can be very special team if Fico and Mack s can throw like they have been in practice.”
On Motivation Factor from End of Last Season
“I think everyone was bitterly disappointed because everything fell in our lap setting us up for a super regional [at home] and we couldn’t finish it. We talked to the team yesterday and explained that the season is broken up into about three or four segments. We need to take care of business each time we play so that we can stay home instead of getting sent across the country. This weekend is a great chance to start off really good.”
LSU 3B Jessica Mouse
On the Team Being More Aggressive This Season
“I think that we see it every day at practice this season. That’s one of the things we put down as a team. We sat down and discussed goals that we need to reach to bring us to the next level. When we go out to practice this season, everyone has energy and intensity. When a team comes out as aggressive, smooth and looks sharp, it shows us that we’re for anything.”
On If LSU Can Win the SEC West
“We proved that we could beat Alabama last year. I think if our lineup, pitching staff and heart comes together we can beat anybody. We feel that it’s going to be us beating ourselves this year. As long as we stay focused and know what we are striving for, we should be set.”
On the Schedule
“Yesterday, we broke it down in the media room. Each seas coach [Giroaurd] brings out the schedule and shows us who we need to beat. She breaks it down so that everyone knows what they’re expected to do. We’re a decorated program so everyone needs to know what it is we need to accomplish. We could have come out and been 6-0. We’re going strong on the road to start the season because we’re playing Florida and Alabama on the road. It’s always hard playing on the road and staying focused. I think this year we have our stuff together and will get it done.”
LSU SS Juliana Santos
On the Team Being More Aggressive This Season
“It’s very important to be aggressive. We had a little bit of a problem communicating last season but we’re trying to fix it by being more aggressive this season. We feel being aggressive is the key to our success. We’re going to go all out all the time.”
On Last Season’s Ending
“The way it ended was rough. It was so hard because we had a lot of freshmen and a lot of inexperience. We had never experienced that before. Our communication and camaraderie was nowhere near as good as it is this season. We have a lot of experience and it definitely helps push us to strive for excellence. Our motto this year is to strive for perfection. That feeling is still deep in our gut. It’s still there and burning so we want to come back this season to avenge the way last season ended.”
On This Season’s Freshmen
“I think for every freshman, regardless if you are from Louisiana or out of state it’s difficult at times and a new experience. Our team is really close and consider each other family. We did something different this season and the upperclassmen were each assigned little sisters so that when they moved in we could take them under our wings. That way if they needed any advice we could help them. I think the transition was a little bit easier for them because of that.”