BATON ROUGE — With the Southeastern Conference lead on the line, the fifth-ranked LSU softball team will try to “white out” No. 1 Tennessee in a Top 5 league showdown at Tiger Park this weekend, including a pair of contests televised nationally by ESPN2.
On Saturday, ESPN2 will broadcast the first game of the series as the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. The weekend will conclude with a single game on Sunday on ESPN2, with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m., as the Tigers celebrate “Senior Day” to honor the three seniors ? Kristen Hobbs, Leslie Klein and Emily Turner.
The first 1,000 fans on Saturday will receive FREE white LSU softball t-shirts as those attending are encouraged to wear white for what is expected to be a standing room only crowd at the series. In addition, the first 500 fans will receive LSU softball trading cards with the first 200 fans also receiving LSU softball “Home Plate” cookbooks.
On Sunday, the first 500 fans will once again receive LSU softball trading cards and the first 200 fans will take home LSU softball “Home Plate” cookbooks. The Tigers will hold “Senior Day” festivities following the series finale with presentations for Hobbs, Klein and Turner.
With only two weeks remaining in the SEC schedule, the Lady Vols hold a slim one-game lead over LSU in the overall conference standings as both teams lead their respective divisions. The Tigers have won five SEC Championships in the last 10 years, the most of any conference school, while Tennessee has never won the league title.
With the top three spots in the conference essentially wrapped up, it will come down to LSU, Tennessee and Alabama for the overall title as the Crimson Tide currently sit one game behind the Tigers in the standings. The Lady Vols will take on the Crimson Tide next weekend, which gives Tennessee the toughest road remaining with six games against Top 5-ranked teams. Alabama faces Kentucky in a three-game series this weekend, while LSU closes out the conference slate at Georgia next week. The Tigers took two out of three from the Crimson Tide in Baton Rouge earlier this season, giving LSU the tie-breaker over Alabama.
This weekend marks the first time ESPN has broadcast from Tiger Park in LSU’s 11-year history. Last season, the Tigers made six appearances on the ESPN family of networks, including a game in Palm Springs, Calif., two games in Knoxville, Tenn., and all three games of the NCAA Super Regional in Tucson, Ariz.
LSU has made seven appearances on television this season, posting a 6-1 record. The Tigers have a 5-1 record in games on Cox Sports Television, with the only loss coming to No. 2 Alabama. LSU is also 1-0 on SEC-TV, which is broadcast on the Fox Sports family of networks. The Tigers topped No. 2 Alabama in that one contest.
Tennessee is the highest ranked team and the first No. 1-ranked team to ever travel to Tiger Park. In 2001, then No. 3-ranked Alabama became the highest ranked team to ever play in Baton Rouge. LSU swept the three-game series against the Crimson Tide that season, winning 1-0, 3-1 and 5-0 as part of an SEC Championship season.
The Tigers have now faced No. 1-ranked teams on six occasions. LSU has recorded a 1-5 record in those games, picking up its first win over a top-ranked team last season in the NCAA Super Regionals. The Tigers defeated No. 1 Arizona in the second game of the Super Regionals to force a decisive third game.
In the win over the Wildcats, LSU became the first program in history to knock off Arizona in a game that could send the Wildcats to the Women’s College World Series at home. Arizona was 13-0 in games at Hillenbrand Stadium in World Series clinchers before falling to LSU. The Wildcats were also 17-1 in overall games that could send them to the WCWS entering game two of the series. LSU dropped them to 17-2 in that category.