BATON ROUGE — With four straight shutouts to their credit, the fifth-ranked Tiger softball team hosts Southeastern Conference Eastern Division-leading Georgia in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Tiger Park.
The Tigers (24-7, 9-2 SEC) swept No. 24 South Carolina last weekend and did not allow a single run to the Gamecocks, who average over four runs a game. It marked the first time in school history that LSU held a Southeastern Conference opponent scoreless in a three-game series.
Georgia (37-5, 7-5 SEC) shut out Winthrop in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday, 9-0 and 10-0. Last weekend, the 21st-ranked Bulldogs lost two-of-three to Mississippi State, winning the first game, 3-1, before falling in a pair of one-run decisions, 2-1 and 4-3.
“This is another big series for us at home,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “This is our last SEC weekend series at Tiger Park and we need to take advantage of it since we will be on the road the entire month of April in conference play.”
“We have been playing well. We are finally playing like we are the fifth-ranked team in the country and that paid off with a sweep of South Carolina last weekend.
NFCA/Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week Trena Peel leads the Tigers at the plate. The senior from Aurora, Colo., is batting .404 on the season with a school record 10 triples. Last weekend she broke the LSU career triples mark with 23, surpassing former Tiger Dee Douglas.
In the circle, the Tigers are led by All-American Britni Sneed. The senior from Houston, Texas, is averaging 11.7 strikeouts per seven innings and needs just eight strikeouts to break into the top 10 in career strikeouts in NCAA history.
LSU has dominated the series with Georgia, having never lost to the Bulldogs in 12 meetings, posting a 4-0 record in Baton Rouge and a 7-0 record in Athens. The Tigers also defeated Georgia in the 1999 SEC Tournament. LSU has outscored the Bulldogs 64-7 in their 12 meetings and UGA has never scored more than two runs against LSU in a game.
The series will conclude with a single game on Sunday at 11 a.m. Fans are urged to arrive early for the game due to an Easter service at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The service, which begins at 10 a.m., is expected to attract over 14,000 people, impacting traffic flow and the number of available parking spaces.