BATON ROUGE – The No. 14 LSU softball team opens a critical home week with a Wednesday doubleheader against Ole Miss set for 5 p.m. at Tiger Park.
LSU (21-4, 3-0 SEC) checks in with a 16-game winning streak and are coming off a weekend sweep of South Carolina. The Tigers are ranked No. 14 in both the NFCA and USA Softball polls and will wear white jerseys trimmed in green in recognition of St. Patrick’s Day.
Ole Miss (16-10, 3-2 SEC) picked up a solid 6-4 victory during the middle game of its weekend series at No. 4 Florida. Lauren Grill paces the Rebels and is third in the SEC with a .473 batting average and 17 RBIs, while Brittany Barnhill carries a 7-2 record in the circle.
“This is a very good and dangerous Ole Miss team that has given us some problems in the past,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “We’ve talked a lot about living in the present with the team and know that we have to continue to play the way we’ve been playing to be successful. It’s a long season where the peaks can’t be too high and the valleys can’t be too low.”
LSU has used a total team effort with phenomenal offensive, tremendous pitching and outstanding defense. The offense has posted a .286 team batting average as seven different players have already compiled double-digit RBIs for the Tigers.
Kirsten Shortridge, the reigning SEC and USA Softball National Player of the Week, has racked up 37 hits for a .420 batting average and 13 RBIs. She also has tallied an impressive 23-for-25 clip in the stolen base department.
“I’m glad Kirsten is getting some accolades her way because there are times when she feels she doesn’t have good performances,” Girouard said. “It’s going to be a sad day when I can’t write Shortridge at the top of the lineup card. We would like to keep her hot because when she rolls the Tigers roll.”
Anissa Young has surged into a tie for sixth place in the SEC with a team-best 22 RBIs on a .281 hitting clip. She notched seven RBIs at South Carolina highlighted by a three-run homer in the opening game of the series.
Rachel Mitchell has bumped her average up to .333 and has tallied 17 RBIs, while Ashley Langoni, like Young, has built on her solid freshman campaign with a team-best six homers to go along with 16 RBIs.
Courtney Hollier and Jessica Mouse have each contributed 14 RBIs apiece. All 14 of Hollier’s RBIs have come during the LSU winning streak. The 14 RBIs for Mouse match her season total from 2009.
Ashley Applegate also has chipped a .324 average and 10 RBIs of her own, while Morgan Russell is coming off a 4-for-9 weekend at the plate to boost her average to .300 in 30 plate appearances.
The Tiger pitching staff has surrendered a combined total of eight earned runs over 103.0 innings of work during the 16-game winning streak to drop its SEC-leading staff ERA to 0.81. LSU’s three-headed monster of Cody Trahan, Brittany Mack and Rachele Fico all rank inside the SEC’s Top 6 in ERA.
For the season, Trahan has racked up an impressive 45 strikeouts against one walk, while Fico has won seven straight decisions since opening weekend. The Tiger defense also has compiled a sparking .983 fielding percentage and committed only seven errors during the streak.
Both games of Wednesday’s doubleheader will be televised by Cox Sports Television. The games also will be carried live on ESPN Radio 104.5 and The X 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area with Patrick Wright and Kent Lowe set to call the action.
Live stats are available in the Geaux Zone on LSUSports.net along with live in-game updates via www.twitter.com/lsu_softball.
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.
The Tiger Park Ticket Trailer opens at 3:30 p.m. and Wednesday’s game marks the second of five Weekday Worker games. Fans who purchase tickets at the gate while presenting their business card will receive $3 admission and entrance into a drawing to win a prize pack.
The first 200 students will receive coupons courtesy of Jack in the Box as part of Student Point Night. LSU students are admitted free to all softball regular season home games when they show their valid LSU ID card at the gate.