BATON ROUGE – In this week’s edition of “Blogging from the Berm”, Juliana Santos takes behind the scenes as the No. 24 LSU softball team hits the road to face No. 2 Alabama over the weekend at Rhoads Stadium.
Santos has notched in 12 of her last 16 appearances going back to March 3 en route to a team-leading .346 batting average. She drove home the go-ahead run on RBI single during LSU’s five-run fifth inning Wednesday versus Nicholls State. For the season, Santos’ 27 hits and 19 RBIs are second on the team only to Ashley Langoni.
All three games of the Alabama series will have live audio and live stats inside the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. The game also will be carried live Country Legends 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area with Patrick Wright and Matt Dunaway on the broadcast.
The series opener will be televised by ESPNU with Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza set to call the action, while the series finale will be shown by FSN with Dave Baker and Cheri Kempf on the call. Both television games also are available on ESPN3.com.
Fans also can follow every pitch of LSU softball this season via live in-game updates on LSU softball’s social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball and @lsu_softball on Twitter.
“Hey Tiger Fans,
We have been on quite the roll lately. How about A.J. Andrews and Jacee Blades stepping up and being quite the force to reckon with at the top of our lineup!
The month of March was huge for us, and you the fans have played a great part in helping us come out with all of those wins. The atmosphere at Tiger Park is no doubt amongst the best in the country and playing here makes me feel like I am back at home with my family.
Being from California, I was not sure what to expect when I first came to Baton Rouge on a recruiting visit. But boy, I could not have asked for anything better. The interaction with Tiger fans, the games at Tiger Park, the dance contests and the overall camaraderie that you bring to the park day in and day out is priceless. Trust me, we appreciate every last bit of it. So, for starters, my teammates and I would like to give a very special THANK YOU shout out to every single one of you. Our program would not be what it is today without your love and support.
Now to the good stuff! The month of April is going to be tough one for us as a team. Each opponent brings a different set of challenges. We will see better pitching, better hitters and teams that are very solid defensively. But, as competitors, this is exactly what we want. We are on a roll right now. We have played ourselves into a great position, and we hope to keep all of our cylinders clicking in sync.
Last weekend’s sweep of Arkansas put us in a great spot. We currently sit in second place in both the SEC Western Division and the overall SEC standings. We knew success during the month of March would vault us into this weekend as we travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the Crimson Tide. Our games with Alabama are always the most intense games of the season. It is the perfect time for us to be peaking as a team, and I believe the momentum we have built in the past month is going to be the thing that puts us over the top.
We have three crucial SEC road trips in the month of April. Playing on the road in the SEC is extremely challenging, no matter the venue or the time of year. I wish that each of you knew how much your support means to this team. Please join us if you can this weekend in Tuscaloosa, next weekend at Tennessee and April 24th in Gainesville when we face the Florida Gators.
I know I speak for all of my teammates when I say that we would love to see your presence in Purple and Gold pack these stadiums.
Have fun today and GEAUX TIGAHHSSS,”
Juliana