BATON ROUGE – The No. 21 LSU softball team concludes its non-conference slate with a Tuesday tilt at Southeastern Louisiana. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. at North Oak Park in Hammond.
LSU (35-15) enters the game on a nine-game winning streak and wraps up a stretch of 10 of its last 11 contests away from Tiger Park.
The Tigers have won 16 of the 17 previous meetings with Southeastern Louisiana (21-27), including the last seven outings in the series dating back to the 2007 season.
“We have to have the same mindset Tuesday that we did over the weekend at Mississippi State,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “That’s to go down there and take care of business. We know we have to be on our toes anytime we go on the road in the state.”
Simone Heyward sparks the offense from the top of the lineup with a .285 batting average to go along with 20 stolen bases. Since returning to the leadoff spot, Heyward has notched hits in three of her last four games and added a pair of RBIs.
Anissa Young has heated back up at the plate and belted her team-leading ninth home run of the season Sunday at Mississippi State. For Young, the dinger set a personal season-high after she posted eight home runs during each of her first two seasons. She also has drove home a team-best 36 RBIs on the season.
Tammy Wray has produced hits in six of her last nine games highlighted by a game-winning RBI double during the sixth inning of LSU’s 7-6 comeback victory Saturday at Mississippi State. She is right behind Young with seven long balls and 29 RBIs for the season.
From the No. 8 and No. 9 positions in the lineup, Jacee Blades and Tiffany Shaw teamed up for an impressive 11-for-22 week and scored a quartet of runs. Blades heads into Tuesday’s game on a career-long seven-game hitting streak.
Brittany Mack added three more wins to her ledger at Mississippi State to vault her record to 16-5 on the season. She racked up double digit strikeouts during both of her starts versus the Bulldogs. Dating back to March 19, Mack has rolled to an 11-2 mark with a sparking 0.87 ERA.
The junior right-hander joined Georgia’s Morgan Montemayor and Florida’s Hannah Rogers this season as the only league pitchers to claim all three wins during an SEC weekend series. The Mack-Rachele Fico duo has combined to pick up 29 of LSU’s 35 wins in the circle this season.
Live stats for Tuesday’s contest are available in the Geaux Zone on www.LSUsports.net/livestats.
In-game updates are provided via the program’s social media pages at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and www.Twitter.com/LSU_Softball.