BATON ROUGE – The No. 21 LSU softball team wraps up the non-conference tournament schedule over the weekend playing host to the Purple & Gold Challenge at Tiger Park.
LSU (12-5) recently completed a stretch of nine of its last 10 games away from home. The Tigers have games scheduled against Pittsburgh [Friday 3 p.m.], Hofstra [Friday 5:30 p.m.] and No. 12 Texas [Saturday 12:30 p.m.]. Bracket play begins Saturday at 3 p.m. followed by championship play starting Sunday at 9 a.m.
“This is another very strong tournament before we start SEC play,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “I was disappointed in our defense last weekend, but we’ve worked hard at practice to correct those mistakes. We have a tremendous amount of respect not only for Texas, but for Pittsburgh and Hofstra. We’re going to have to play our best every inning if we want to be successful this weekend.”
LSU has started the 2011 season with eight consecutive home wins. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 57-9 coupled with a .360 team batting average and a 1.10 staff ERA inside the friendly confines of Tiger Park.
Offensively, LSU already has seven players with 10 or more hits for the season. The Tigers are hitting .303 as a team with runners in scoring position and have racked up 44 of their 92 RBIs with two outs.
Simone Heyward returned to the top of the lineup last weekend after missing a five-game stretch due to an injury. With Heyward in the lineup, LSU is 10-2 and has tallied 6.58 runs per game. In the five games without Heyward, LSU was 2-3 and held to under three or less runs on three occasions.
Anissa Young paces the Tigers with a .375 batting average from the heart of the order. She also continues to be ranked among the SEC’s Top 10 in home runs [5], runs [17], RBIs [17], on-base percentage [.561] and slugging percent¬age [.825].
Young belted a pair of home runs during LSU’s 6-2 victory over Fordham. It marked the 26th time in program history that a player has belted a pair of dingers during a game. The Fontana, Calif., native also opened a stretch of back-to-back-to-back home runs during the sixth inning against the Rams.
Tammy Wray has produced eight of her 15 RBIs over her last five games. She drove home the tying run on a RBI single during LSU’s 7-4 comeback win over Cal Poly to finish the game with a career-best three RBIs. The Somers, N.Y., product has started all 17 games at third base this season and has totaled a spotless fielding per¬centage with 31 assists filling in for Jessica Mouse.
After totaling four hits in 42 plate appearances during 2010, Lauren Houston is swinging a hot bat for the Tigers. She has already laced eight hits and drove home nine RBIs this season.
Rachele Fico, Brittany Mack and Meghan Patterson have each posted four wins for LSU in the circle. Fico has totaled 60 strikeouts which places her in a third-place tie in the SEC. She fired 4.2 frames of two-hit relief against No. 3 Arizona and tallied a relief win versus Cal Poly last weekend.
Mack has won three of her four decisions and went the distance without allowing an earned run against Fordham. She recorded nine Ks against three walks and held the Rams to four hits.
Patterson has compiled 27 of her 57 strikeouts looking to pace the SEC. Her 57 Ks also checks in at sixth place in the conference. The Destrehan native is the first LSU freshman pitcher since Dani Hofer during the 2006 season to start her career with a 4-0 record.
Live stats for every game of the Purple & Gold Challenge this weekend will be available on www.LSUsports.net/livestats. Fans can follow in-game updates via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.
The Tiger Park Ticket Booth will open Friday at 9:30 a.m. and fans can purchase tickets on-site starting at $5 for adult general admission. Additional ticket information for LSU’s home series with SEC heavyweights Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee is available at www.LSUtix.net.