ATHENS, Ga. – The No. 21 LSU softball team opens its SEC road slate with a weekend series against No. 1 Georgia at Jack Turner Stadium. Friday’s series opener is set for 5:30 p.m. CT followed by game two Saturday at 1:30 p.m. CT and Sunday’s series finale is on-tap for 12:30 p.m. CT.
LSU (15-7, 0-2 SEC) is looking to bounce back from 8-1 and 5-0 defeats to No. 2 Florida Wednesday during its SEC opener. The Tigers have won three games in 12 attempts against the nation’s No. 1 heading into the weekend.
Entering the weekend, LSU holds a 28-14 edge in the all-time series with Georgia. The Tigers took two of three games versus the Bulldogs last season at Tiger Park.
“We knew at the beginning of the season having to play Florida and Georgia back-to-back was a brutal opening to the SEC,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “Georgia is a very good team and extremely tough on their home field. Hopefully, we’ll fight a little stronger this weekend than we did yesterday.”
Simone Heyward has reached base in 17 consecutive games to open her career. She was the only Tiger to collect hits in both games of the Florida doubleheader. Heyward is batting .370 for the season with nine stolen bases.
Tiffany Shaw has hit safely in six of her last eight games as LSU’s starting designated player. She drove home a RBI single during the fifth inning of game one against Florida. Shaw is hitting at a .339 clip and her 19 hits are tied with Tammy Wray for the team lead.
Wray along with Ashley Langoni, Juliana Santos and Anissa Young have combined for 59 of LSU’s 100 RBIs on the season. Young has ripped a team-best six homers to go along with 21 RBIs.
Georgia (17-1, 0-0 SEC) has notched a .336 team batting average highlighted by Brianna Hesson and Megan Wiggins. The duo has combined for an impressive 23 extra base hits and produced 45 RBIs.
In the circle, Alison Owen is 6-0 with a 0.44 ERA. A majority of her appearances have come in relief as Owen has compiled 46 strikeouts against six walks over 31.2 innings of work. Morgan Montemayor also has won seven of her eight decisions for the Bulldogs.
All three games of the UGA series will be carried live on ESPN 104.5 FM in the Baton Rouge area with Patrick Wright and Matt Dunaway on the call.
Fans can follow live stats on LSUsports.net along with in-game updates via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and www.Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.