BATON ROUGE — Riding a nine-game winning streak, the 11th-ranked LSU softball team will host the Ole Miss Lady Rebels in a three-game Southeastern Conference series beginning with a doubleheader on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Tiger Park.
The first game of the series will be televised locally on Cox Sports Television, Baton Rouge cable channel 38. The LSU Sports Network will also carry the entire series on WJNH-Jam’n 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge and on the internet at www.LSUsports.net.
If the Tigers (35-11, 11-6 SEC) can sweep the doubleheader on Saturday, they will clinch a position in the SEC Tournament in Plant City, Fla., in May. LSU currently stands in fourth place in the league behind Alabama in the Western Division and Georgia and South Carolina in the Eastern Division.
“This is a big series for us,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We have been playing well and we need to keep that going.
“Hopefully we will have a nice crowd. We have done our best to make the game times as accommodating as possible for our fans. This should be a great Easter weekend for softball at Tiger Park.”
Since LSU reinstated its softball program in 1997, the Tigers are 20-2 all-time against Ole Miss. In Tiger Park, LSU has posted a 10-1 record, with its only loss in the series opener in 1999. The Tigers are currently riding a 13-game winning streak over the Lady Rebels, including three consecutive shutout victories.
Continuing her outstanding performance this season, junior Kristin Schmidt hurled a one-hitter in shutting out Southern Miss on Wednesday. The Houston native has won 10-straight starts and allowed just two runs in her last six complete games. With a 21-9 record and an earned run average of 0.87 for the season, ranks ninth in victories and in ERA in the NCAA this season.
Sara Fitzgerald has put together her best season as a Tiger in 2003. The junior from Kingwood, Texas, has a .312 batting average with 14 doubles, just six shy of the LSU single-season record. In addition, she leads the team in hits and runs batted in and ranks second on the team in runs scored and stolen bases.
Against Southern Miss on Wednesday, Camille Harris tied the school single-game records for hits and RBIs in a game. She went 4-for-4 at the plate with six RBIs. In the top of the third inning, she broke the game open with a three-run home run, her fourth of the season. She capped off the night with a two-RBI single in the sixth inning that ran the score to 14-0.
Harris now leads the team with a .317 batting average and .512 slugging percentage. The freshman from Hendersonville, Tenn., also comes in second in home runs and third in RBIs on the year.
The Lady Rebels are coming off their biggest win of the season. Ole Miss came back from a 5-0 deficit in the sixth inning to defeat 10th-ranked Georgia, 6-5, last weekend, its first win over a top 10 program since 2000. Sophomore DeDe Justice leads the Lady Rebels with a .333 batting average and 11 home runs. She hit a three-run homer that sparked Ole Miss’ comeback effort in the sixth inning.
The series will conclude with a single game on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. at Tiger Park.