BATON ROUGE – The LSU softball team concludes the non-conference tournament portion of its schedule Friday and Saturday playing host to the Purple & Gold Challenge at Tiger Park.
The Tigers (11-7) are scheduled to face Mississippi Valley State (Friday – 5 p.m.; Saturday – 4 p.m.) and Troy (Friday – 7:30 p.m.; Saturday – 1:30 p.m.).
“We have seen a lot of Troy coming from the Sun Belt,” head coach Beth Torina said. “They always put a good, quality team on the field and compete extremely hard. It will not be a walk in the park by any means this weekend, and we are looking forward to the challenge as always.”
LSU is coming off a 10-2 five-inning victory Wednesday at Nicholls State. It marked the third time on the season that the Tigers have produced double figure runs. LSU scored 10 or more runs on five occasions during the entire 2011 campaign.
LSU welcomed Allison Falcon back to the lineup during Wednesday’s contest after she missed an eight-game stretch due to an injury. Falcon is expected to return to the field defensively over the weekend after serving as the designated player. The Donaldsonville native had her career-best six-game hitting streak snapped, but is still batting a crisp .417 for the season.
Ashley Langoni has had her batting average rise by 87 points to a team-leading .298 clip over her last three games. She has gone 6-for-9 during the stretch with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs. For the season, eight of Langoni’s team-high 14 hits have gone for extra bases.
Kailey McCasland has found a home at third base and is 4-for-12 at the plate with a home run and four RBIs over her last four outings. Her first career dinger came versus No. 23 Oklahoma State on March 3.
Dylan Supak also connected for her first career longball following a Langoni two-run shot during the first inning Wednesday against Nicholls State. It marked the 17th time in program history that LSU has ripped back-to-back homers.
In the circle, Rachele Fico secured her sixth win of the season at Nicholls State last time out. She fanned six batters to bring her season total to 55 Ks. She enters the weekend one strikeout away from becoming the seventh pitcher in program history to reach 400 career Ks.
Brittany Mack, the No. 1 selection in Wednesday’s National Pro Fastpitch draft, has won three of her last four decisions and notched at least six strikeouts in her those four starts dating back to Feb. 21.
Meghan Patterson hasn’t allowed a run in three of her four appearances. She worked a routine 1-2-3 frame highlighted by two strikeouts to close out Wednesday’s 10-2 win over Nicholls State.
Follow every pitch of LSU softball this season via live stats on www.LSUsports.net/livestats. Fans also can receive live in-game updates on LSU softball’s social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and @lsu_softball on Twitter.