BATON ROUGE – The No. 16 LSU softball team plays host to the second of three tournaments as Houston, Jacksonville State and Southern visit Tiger Park for the Tiger Invitational this weekend.
Friday’s schedule has been moved up due to weather concerns. The Tigers will face Southern at 3:30 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. tilt against Houston. Fans are encouraged to check the tournament central page on LSUsports.net for schedule updates during the weekend.
LSU (8-4) has won six of its last seven games since a 2-3 opening weekend at the Time Warner Texas Invitational. The Tigers have outscored its opponents 39-8 during that stretch, including an 11-0 five-inning rout Wednesday of Southeastern Louisiana last time out.
Anissa Young cranked a pair of home runs and picked up a career-best five RBIs against the Lions. Young along with reigning Louisiana Sports Writers Association [LSWA] Hitter of the Week have combined for seven home runs and 22 RBIs on the season.
“We’ve talked about focus and at-bat preparation,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “We want the players to be confident with their swings. Our goal is to execute our game plan each time we take the field. We have capable hitters that need to attack immediately each game like we did on Wednesday.”
LSU’s pitchers continued its dominance in the circle and were touched up for only a trio of singles as Cody Trahan, Brittany Mack and Rachele Fico combined for eight strikeouts. The Tiger staff hasn’t allowed a run in their last 13.1 innings of work and paces the SEC with a 1.05 ERA.
“Our staff has so many different looks,” Girouard said. “We’re fortunate to have the sort of depth we have. It’s a luxury to be able to match-up pitchers against certain teams’ and their weaknesses. We’ve done that very well so far this season. “
Fans can follow every game of the Tiger Invitational via live stats on LSUsports.net in addition to live in-games updates on www.twitter.com/lsu_softball.
Friday’s Updated Schedule
9:30 a.m. – Jacksonville State vs. Southern
Noon – Houston vs. Jacksonville State
3:30 p.m. – LSU vs. Southern
6:00 p.m. – LSU vs. Houston