BATON ROUGE, La. – With a quarter of the season already in the books, the No. 4 LSU softball team opens Southeastern Conference play this Friday-Sunday, hosting the No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge.
The three-game series is set to begin on Friday evening at 6 p.m., with game two set for Saturday at 5 p.m. and the finale on Sunday at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s games are scheduled to be televised live on the SEC Network, with Jenn Hildreth and Michelle Smith calling the action. Fans can also watch the game online through SEC Network+, available through WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app.
Talk 107.3 FM is the radio home of LSU softball, as the station will pick up 30 regular season games beginning this weekend and covering every SEC contest and continuing on through postseason play. Patrick Wright returns for his 20th season of calling LSU softball, with pregame coverage beginning 15 minutes prior to first pitch and 15 minutes following the conclusion of the game. Fans can also listen to games in the Geaux Zone.
Tickets are still available for this weekend’s series against the Crimson Tide, as fans can purchase them online before the weekend at LSUTix.net. Fans with general admission tickets can now find a spot in the Tiger Park Terrace area, or in the new set of bleachers brought in for the series this weekend and will be available for fans throughout the rest of the season. Fans with GA tickets will be able to enter through the new gate located in center field.
The team will welcome back former players for its annual Alumnae Game, as the giveaway will be LSU softball trading cards. For the finale, fans are asked to wear gold and those that do will be able to purchase a $2 general admission ticket to the game, with members of Mike’s Kids Club also on hand for the series finale.
LSU enters the weekend with a 21-2 overall mark after sweeping a doubleheader against the Longwood Lancers this past Tuesday, extending the team’s winning streak to 17 games and improving the club’s overall home record to 17-1 in Tiger Park. LSU is 14-5 in conference home openers, while holding a record of 16-3 in SEC openers all-time.
“Anytime you play someone in the SEC it’s a challenge,” head coach Beth Torina said “Every team in the league does something well so you can never take a weekend off. It’s what makes this conference so tough and competitive.”
The Crimson Tide are also 21-2 on the year, coming off of a run-rule win over the Samford Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa earlier this week. Alabama comes into the week ranked sixth in the NFCA poll and fourth in the USA Softball poll, playing just four games on the road for a 3-1 record.
Offensively the Tigers are hitting .374 at the plate which is third in the Southeastern Conference, with seven players hitting .300 and above. Sahvanna Jaquish leads the team with a .500 average, earning 28 hits, seven being home runs, with 29 RBI and a .964 slugging percentage.
Constance Quinn, Amber Serrett, Bianka Bell, Emily Griggs, Kellsi Kloss and Bailey Landry with an average of .340 and above, as LSU has produced 208 total hits, with 61 of those hits for extra bases.
After a pair of shutouts in that Tuesday doubleheader, the LSU pitching staff lowered its team ERA to 0.97, holding opponents to a hitting percentage of .198 as that earned run average is also third within the conference. The Tigers have issued the third fewest walks in the league so far with just 34 free passes given up and only 19 earned runs crossing the plate.
The reigning national pitcher of the week in Carley Hoover leads the team with an 8-0 record in the circle, striking out 74 batters in 43 total innings of work. She has the lowest opponent batting average with a .188 clip, going the distance in five games while also earning a save.
Sydney Smith and Allie Walljasper both sport sub-1.00 earned run averages as the duo combine for eight wins, five shutouts and a save between them. Along with those two, junior Baylee Corbello had one of her best performances in the circle on Tuesday, striking out 11 and working out of jams to preserve a shutout in a close 1-0 contest, as she improved to 5-0 on the year.
Alabama’s offense is hitting .337 as a team this season, with six players hitting above .300. The visitors are keen on swiping bases as the Crimson Tide have only been thrown out five times on 50 attempts so far this season.
In the circle, Alabama has an earned run average of 1.62 among three pitchers, posting nine shutouts and 15 complete game efforts. Teams are hitting .211 against Alabama this season, striking out 152 times.
“They are a very good team and we’re going to have to bring our best game this weekend,” Torina said.
The last time these two teams met in Baton Rouge during the regular season the Tigers took all three games against the Crimson Tide in 2013, with Alabama returning the favor in Tuscaloosa the very next season. However, LSU got a big win to keep its season alive last year, defeating Alabama in an elimination game at the Women’s College World Series in the only meeting between the two teams.
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.