BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU softball team closes out a stretch of four consecutive home contests on Tuesday night, hosting the South Alabama Jaguars at 6 p.m. at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge.
Tuesday’s game will be televised live on the SEC Network with Trey Bender and Michelle Smith calling all of the action. ESPN 104.5/9 will carry the game locally on radio with Patrick Wright and Matt Dunaway, and can also be heard online through the Geaux Zone.
Fans are encouraged to arrive to the park early, as the team will see the return of one of its own in South Alabama assistant coach Rachele Fico. The 2015 Tigers will host a special welcome back ceremony for the former two-time first team NFCA All-American and All-NPF selection, who last season served as a student coach after completing her illustrious career in Purple and Gold.
It’s also Pack the Park night, where general admission tickets will cost just $1 and the first 1,000 fans through the Tiger Park gates will receive an LSU softball Frisbee.
Since earning their first No. 1 ranking in team history last week, LSU has not taken the honor lightly as the Tigers have backed up their ranking with their play last week in taking three games from Nicholls and Oklahoma. Scores of 6-1, 1-0 and 10-2 should help solidify the team’s spot atop the polls come Tuesday morning heading into the clash with the Jaguars later that evening.
In another tall order for the group, the Tigers hosted the nation’s top offense and by the end of the night on Saturday outscored the Sooners 11-2 on the weekend with a .583 hitting percentage and five total home runs. In the circle, LSU pitching allowed just two home runs to the top home run producing outfit in the country, while being the first team to shut out OU this season.
The two games against then-No. 6 OU not only improved the team’s record to 30-1 and kept the squad undefeated at home, it gave the Tigers a 7-1 record against teams in the Top 25 at the time of competition. It was no surprise then on Monday as the first RPI of the season was released and LSU was No. 2 only to Florida, and one of four SEC teams in the top five thanks to nine wins against the RPI Top 25 in the initial release.
One of the players fueling that drive and was rewarded for her play by both the SEC and LSWA was junior Bianka Bell as she earned seven hits last week, currently leading the conference in batting average at. 561. She drove in nearly 10 RBIs in three games, hitting three home runs on the weekend along to earn SEC and LSWA Player of the Week honors for the second consecutive week.
As a group, when the opportunity arose to put the series finale away, LSU struck by scoring six runs in the final two innings, getting hits from virtually every spot in the lineup or putting the ball in play to force OU into miscues. Kellsi Kloss, Sahvanna Jaquish and Bell each had multiple hits, while all three accounted for all four LSU home runs among team’s 10 total hits
Also earning SEC honors for the first time in her career was Carley Hoover, who’s two-hit, complete-game shutout of the Sooners in the series opener earned her the freshman of the week award. It was the third time she’s held an opponent to only two hits in a start, striking out five to only one walk in the process. On the weekend, Hoover and Allie Walljasper allowed seven hits total in complete-game wins by both.
The gauntlet of the season continues for the team on Tuesday in a South Alabama team that just fell out of the rankings last weekend, but was without one of their top pitchers for much of the early portion of the season. At 21-6, USA not only gets back the services of Fairish Beard, but is also coming off of a sweep of Appalachian State in Sun Belt Play to earn a bit more confidence heading into the showdown.
The two sides split a pair of meetings last season, with LSU adding the Jaguars to the tournament schedule at the last minute in February in suffering a one-run loss, before welcoming them back later that season and cruising to a 6-1 win.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball along with @lsusoftball and @BethTorina on Twitter and @lsusb on Instagram.