BATON ROUGE – The LSU softball team concludes its season’s long 10-game homestand Tuesday versus Georgia Tech, who is currently receiving votes in both the NFCA and USA Softball Top 25 polls. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Tiger Park.
The game was moved from Wednesday night to Tuesday at 6 p.m. due to projected severe storms in the Baton Rouge area. The weather forecast on Wednesday calls for significant storm activity, so LSU officials decided to move the game to give the teams the best chance to play.
The Tiger Park Ticket Booth will open 90 minutes prior to first pitch, and season ticket holders are asked to bring their original Georgia Tech ticket for admission. As part of the program’s inaugural “Pack the Park” contest, all tickets are only $1. The first 1,000 fans will receive a LSU softball roll banner.
LSU (19-8) is coming off a weekend sweep of Mississippi State and has emerged with wins during 16 of its last 20 outings dating back to Feb. 19. It marks the first time that the Tigers will meet Georgia Tech (19-13) on the softball diamond.
The Yellow Jackets have notched a quartet of wins over ranked opponents this season which include Arizona, Georgia, Oklahoma and Nebraska. Hope Rush has secured 12 of Tech’s 19 wins in the pitching circle. She also has collected a .302 batting average to go along with five home runs and 18 RBIs.
Alysha Rudnik and Kelsi Weseman pace the Jackets with identical .340 hitting clips. Weseman has ripped five home runs in just 47 plate appearances, while Rudnik has provided a team-leading 21 RBIs.
“Georgia Tech is definitely a quality opponent, and we’ll have to bring our best game to be successful,” head coach Beth Torina said. “As a team, I’m really happy with where we’re at right now. I like the fact that we’re able to call on a lot of different players and get successful contributions. We’re still working on cleaning up and making some adjustments offensively and defensively. Overall, any time you get three wins during a SEC series is a successful weekend.”
Brittany Mack broke into LSU’s top five in career wins and strikeouts during the Mississippi State series. The senior right-hander has won her last five decisions en route to an 8-4 season mark and trimmed 1.23 points off her season ERA.
Rachele Fico fired a three-hit shutout in Sunday’s series finale to claim her seventh shutout of the season. She is 9-4 with a SEC-leading 0.74 ERA which also ranks eighth-best in the nation. The Fico-Mack duo has combined for 164 Ks in their 136 innings of work.
“Brittany has really started to throw well after facing some tough competition early,” Torina said. “I think she’s taken some of the pressure off herself. She’s done a great job of just going out there, enjoying it and has thrown some great games for us.”
Offensively, Ashley Langoni has hit safely in seven of her last 12 games. Nine of her team-high 21 hits on the season have gone for extra bases. She is batting .309 to go along with a team-best three home runs and 18 RBIs.
Ashley Applegate, Allison Falcon and Dylan Supak combined to deliver seven of the team’s 11 RBIs against Mississippi State over the weekend. Supak ripped a two-run single in Friday’s opener to put the Tigers ahead during an eight-run third inning, while Falcon broke Saturday’s 1-1 tie in the third inning after she deposited a two-run double. For the season, Falcon and Supak are right behind Langoni with 13 and 11 RBIs, respectively.
Fans can follow Tuesday’s game and every pitch of LSU softball this season via live stats inside the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net along with live in-game updates via the program’s social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and @lsu_softball on Twitter.
As part of Brittany Mack‘s “Geaux Play” initiative, LSU softball is encouraging fans to share the gift of sports with special needs children. Fans can donate new or gently used sports equipment during the remaining LSU softball home games at Tiger Park. For more information, visit LSUsports.net/geauxplay.
All items collected will be given directly to the Miracle League Association and six local schools that Mack will visit during the season. At LSU’s series finale versus Ole Miss on April 22, Mack will invite all the children to the game as her special VIP guests for “Geaux Play” day at Tiger Park.