BATON ROUGE, La. – Coming off of a sweep in the opening weekend of conference play, the No. 3 LSU softball team returns to the field this weekend in a battle of SEC unbeatens as the Tigers travel down to Gainesville for a matchup against No. 1 and defending national champion Florida for a three-game series at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
The tilt between the Tigers and Gators kicks off at 5 p.m. CT on Friday, with a 12 p.m. start Saturday and 11 a.m. start Sunday. All three games of the series will be carried on the radio home of LSU softball on ESPN 104.5/9 in Baton Rouge with Patrick Wright. The games on Saturday and Sunday will be shown live on the SEC Network and online on SEC Network+ through WatchESPN.
With a combined record of 52-0, LSU and UF looks to be one of the biggest early-season matchups of the 2015 campaign, as LSU leapt up the polls after a sweep of Arkansas last weekend to move to 25-0 and into a tie for third place in the NFCA poll and all the way to second place in the USA Softball list. Florida has been ranked first since the preseason polls were announced in late January, going 5-0 last weekend at the Judi Garman Classic in California where they beat both Oregon for the second time and Michigan who at the time were both No. 2 and No. 3 in the polls, respectively.
For the Tigers, no midweek game allowed LSU to turn its focus solely on the Gators and what the top team in the country might have in store for the squad when it arrives for game one of the clash on Friday afternoon, with all eyes and a packed house in store for both teams this weekend.
“I think a series like this is great for the league and great for the sport of softball,” head coach Beth Torina said. “Having two major college undefeated teams in the country meet is a really neat thing for everyone, and I think our team just feels really lucky that they are a part of something that’s pretty historic.”
This series has all of the makings for a classic as the Gators come into to the contest with the lowest earned run average in the SEC at 0.76 and second lowest in the nation, while LSU boasts the third-best batting average in the league and fifth best in the nation with a .375 average. The Tigers have also been one of the best in the circle as well, as LSU second only to UF in ERA at 0.86, which is third lowest in the country.
LSU put both aspects of its game on display last weekend, outscoring the Razorbacks 23-1 over the course of the series, hitting .371 as a group with a spotless ERA as the only run that crossed for Arkansas was unearned. The Tigers outhit the Razorbacks 26-10 in the three contests, as the visitors struck out a combined 22 times with a .143 average.
In one of the best offensive seasons for LSU in program history, you’ll be able to find LSU players dotted across various statistical categories throughout the early portion of the season, with the team’s quartet of A.J. Andrews, Bianka Bell, Sahvanna Jaquish and Bailey Landry near the top.
Bell, Andrews and Landry are all in the top 50 individually in the country in batting average, with Bell topping the list at 28 with a .514 batting average. Bell is also 52nd in doubles per game, 62nd in home runs per game, 17th in home runs, 49th in on-base percentage, 11th in RBIs, 33rd in RBIs per game, eighth in runs per game and 12th in slugging percentage.
Second on the team in average is Andrews who is hitting .508 on the season, which is good enough for 32nd place in the country so far, but it’s her .633 on-base percentage that has her 10th in the nation. The senior is fourth in the country in runs per game, ninth in sacrifice flies with three, while leading the nation in triples with seven and second in walks with nearly one per game. She is currently among the active leaders in triples with 18 so far during her illustrious career.
NCAA Softball National Statistics
Jaquish is clocking in the single digits in the a host of categories, as the sophomore currently leads the nation in RBIs with 45 and sacrifice flies with five, while being third in home runs (11), fourth in RBIs per game and fourth in runs per game.
The reigning LSU hitting streak holder in Landry is batting .486 to make the cut in top 50, as her on-base percentage of .537 is currently in the top 100 in the country. She is scoring 1.04 runs per game which is 80th in the land, sitting in the top 15 in the SEC in every category.
The effort of the pitching staff has made games tough for opposing teams, as the quartet of hurlers in Baylee Corbello, Carley Hoover, Kelsee Selman and Allie Walljasper are all in the top 35 in the country in ERA ranging from 0.43-1.15.
Walljasper is fourth nationally in ERA with an SEC-leading 0.43 and eighth in walks allowed per seven innings at 0.72. Baylee Corbello is right behind thanks to her no-hitter last week with a 0.88 ERA, while she leads the group with a 3.94 hits allowed per seven innings average which is 24th.
Selman’s four shutouts this season not only leads the team, but leads the conference and is seventh in the country, followed by Corbello and Walljasper with three each. While the staff has been sharing the load, Hoover has earned the bulk of the strikeouts so far, as she is averaging 9.5 per seven innings which is 23rd, closely followed by Selman at 9.3 which is 27th.
The implications of the series go far beyond the reach of the conference standings, as each side will be looking to lay claim to the best in the country, with both looking to settle it on the field to leave no debate as to which is the hottest team at the moment.
“I think the winner of this series shows to be one of the best teams in the country, if not the best,” Torina said. “It’s an opportunity to go out and prove it right on the field.”
Torina, a former Florida pitcher who will be making the return trip to Gainesville for the second time since becoming head coach, has had some close games with the Gators since arriving in Baton Rouge, as five of the last six meetings have been decided by just one run. This UF team proves to be potent on both sides and that’s something that the team will be prepared for come this weekend.
“Florida is going to bring a pitching staff that’s likely better than any we’ve seen so far this year,” Torina said. “And their offense has a lot of depth and does a lot of similar things that we do with mixing speed and power. They are a complete team from top to bottom.”
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