BATON ROUGE — The third-ranked Tiger softball team will be playing to clinch their fourth straight Southeastern Conference title as they close out league play against Auburn at Tiger Park in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
LSU (45-8, 23-3 SEC) is currently riding a season-best 15-game winning streak and has won 25 of its last 26 games. A game and a half ahead of Alabama in the SEC standings, the Tigers can clinch the SEC title with a doubleheader sweep of Auburn.
Currently in sixth place in the league, Auburn (33-21, 11-13 SEC) is coming off SEC series wins over Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi State and has won seven of its last nine.
“It is good to be back at home after a month on the road in the SEC,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “This is an important series for us, not only because we can secure our fourth-straight SEC regular season title, but because we can help improve our chances of hosting an NCAA Regional in two weeks. Hosting a regional is important because it gives us a chance to play at home for one of eight spots in the Women’s College World Series.”
LSU has won the SEC Western Division title every year since the softball program was reinstated in 1997 and has won three-straight regular season SEC titles. Last season, the Tigers won two-of-three games at Auburn to secure the conference championship, finishing two games ahead of Alabama.
LSU boasts one of the best pitching staffs in the country, with a team ERA that ranks second in the nation at 0.87. The Tigers boast the only pitching duo that is currently ranked in the top 20 in both ERA and strikeouts per seven innings.
SEC Player of the Week Britni Sneed posted a 3-0 record and did not allow a run in 21 innings pitched last week. The senior All-American recorded her fourth and fifth no-hitters of the season against Southern Miss and Ole Miss and has now recorded no-hitters in three of her last six outings, dropping her ERA to 0.86, 13th best in the NCAA.
Of the two bloop singles she allowed on the week, neither cleared the infield dirt. Only twice did a player even reach second base against her and she did not have a player reach third against her on the week.
In addition, Sneed recorded three shutouts to improve her season total to 18, breaking her LSU single-season record. With four more shutouts this year, she will be tied for 20th in single-season shutouts in NCAA history.
With 39 strikeouts on the week, she improved her SEC-leading total to 357 on the season and 1249 on her career, passing Amanda Renfro and Shaun Andaya to move into sixth place in NCAA career history. Second in the nation in strikeout ratio, she averaged 13.0 strikeouts per seven innings to up her season average to 11.8.
Kristin Schmidt posted a 2-0 record last week and was one hit from a perfect game against Ole Miss. She also took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against Southern Miss before allowing one run on three hits in her other outing.
The sophomore All-American ranks 18th in the NCAA in ERA at 0.88 and 14th in the NCAA in strikeouts per seven innings at 9.2. She currently ranks fourth in strikeouts in a single season in school history and third in career strikeouts at LSU in just one year as a Tiger.
Dating back to March 19, she has allowed just two earned runs in her last 59 innings pitched for a 0.24 ERA and has recorded double-figures in strikeouts in four of her last five starts.
LSU and Auburn will close out the three-game series with a single game on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Tiger Park. The Tigers will conclude the regular season with a doubleheader against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at 2 p.m. LSU will honor the five Tiger seniors prior to the start of that game as a part of Senior Day.