BATON ROUGE — Having won 17 of their last 18 games, the 11th-ranked LSU softball team will close out the 2003 home schedule on Tuesday against Southern Miss at Tiger Park as the Tigers honor Christy Connor, Jennie Reeves and Megann Steege for Senior Night prior to the start of the 6:30 p.m. game.
Posting a 2-0 record against the Lady Eagles this season, LSU enters the game with a 43-12 mark on the year. Southern Miss stands at 25-26 on the season and has won four-straight games. The LSU Sports Network will broadcast the game in Baton Rouge on WJNH-Jam’n 107.3 and on the internet at www.LSUsports.net.
“I would love to have the crowd that we have been having,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We need a large, vocal crowd to come out and send off our outstanding senior class, a class that has given so much to this program.
“We are also meeting a regional opponent in Southern Miss. It should be a fun and exciting night at the ballpark.”
Since LSU reinstated its softball program in 1997, the Tigers are 9-4 all-time against Southern Miss. LSU is 6-3 all-time against the Lady Eagles in Baton Rouge, 3-0 in Hattiesburg, Miss., and 0-1 at neutral sites. The Tigers have now won seven in a row, outscoring Southern Miss 43-1 in that period.
The contest will mark the final game in Tiger Park for Connor, Reeves and Steege. These three seniors have combined to post a 217-47 (.822) record during their tenure in Baton Rouge. In 2001 they participated in LSU’s first Women’s College World Series. The trio has won three SEC Championships, two SEC Tournament Championships and three SEC Western Division Championships over their previous three seasons.
In three seasons with the Tigers after transferring from Texas-San Antonio, Connor has made her mark on the LSU record books. The 2001 and 2002 All-SEC and All-SEC Tournament selection currently ranks fourth in career home runs, fifth in career doubles, RBIs and sacrifice flies, sixth in career total bases and seventh in career walk in LSU history.
In addition, the first baseman from Katy, Texas, is tied for ninth in single-season home runs this year. Against Cal Poly, she tied the single-game record with a pair of home runs. In the bottom of the night inning against Nicholls State, she hit a walk-off home run to defeat the Lady Colonels at Tiger Park. Last season she was tied for the third most single-season doubles in school history and the ninth most RBIs.
Reeves has been a three-year letterwinner for the Tigers. One of the best defensive catchers in LSU history, she is one of only five players in school history to complete a season with a perfect fielding percentage and a minimum of 75 chances. Last year the honorable mention All-Louisiana selection set the school record for single-season putouts and is currently 10th in putouts this year.
The Denham Springs native also has the sixth-best fielding percentage in school history this season and ranks third in career putouts. Last season she recorded her first career home run in a dramatic 1-0 win over Massachusetts in the NCAA Regionals. This year, she knocked in the game-tying run in the top of the seventh inning as the Tigers completed a dramatic come-from-behind win over Mississippi State on the road.
One of LSU’s most solid defensive outfielders, Steege has been a three-year letterwinner for the Tigers after a redshirt season in 1999. In 2001, she was named the SEC Player of the Week after hitting .556 with six RBIs and three runs scored in an SEC sweep of Tennessee.
This season, the Fresno, Calif., native knocked in the game-winning run in a 2-1 win over Northwestern State. In the two-game series with the Lady Demons, she went 3-for-6 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Against Auburn, she posted a 4-for-8 performance with a stolen base. She has also not committed an error in 39 chances in the outfield this year.
The NCAA also announced the eight home sites for the eight-team regionals this season. Alabama and Florida out of the Southeastern Conference were selected to host regionals. In addition, top-ranked Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, Fresno State, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas also received bids. Host institutions are not guaranteed a bid to the tournament.
This season will be the first year that the championship field includes 64 teams since the tournament was established in 1982. Twenty-six Division I conferences receive an automatic berth along with 38 at-large selections. The at-large teams, top-eight national seeds and first-round regional pairings will be announced Sunday, May 11, at 9 p.m. on ESPNEWS.
Regional competition begins on May 15 and run through May 18, with the winners advancing to the Women’s College World Series. The 22nd WCWS begins play Thursday, May 22, at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
LSU will close out the regular season on the road with a three-game series at Florida. The Tigers will take on the Gators on Saturday beginning with a doubleheader at 11 a.m. CT. Please note the Saturday time change due to graduation at the University of Florida. The series will conclude with a single game on Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. CT.