BATON ROUGE – LSU Softball held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the state-of-the-art Mike Moore Performance Center Thursday evening at Tiger Park. “The Mike” is one of the top indoor facilities among college softball and the biggest indoor facility among the SEC.
“It is great to be here on this special day,” said LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward. “I want to welcome you to the Mike Moore Performance Center and extend my thanks to so many of you who helped make this one-of-a-kind facility a reality.
“At LSU, we work really hard to ensure that our student-athletes have the very best of everything, whether it’s training facilities, support and everything they do in order to excel on and off the field.”
Construction on the new facility began in the summer of 2018. LSU Athletics announced the naming of the facility on May 4, 2019 and the building is officially open for the 2020 season.
Many donors contributed to the facility including, the Moore and Bond Families, Ann and Clarence Cazalot, Scotty and Espe Moran, Sandra J. Braddock, Gregory and Suzie Price and Sandy W. Rodgers.
“What a tremendous day for the LSU softball program,” said Ben Ross, Vice President of Development at the Tiger Athletic Foundation. “We’ve have so many donors and people here that have helped make this all possible. On behalf of the LSU Tiger Athletic Foundation, we would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to everybody who made this project possible.”
The building was named for the late Mike Moore, a longtime support of the Tiger softball program. During his life, Mr. Moore was an avid and very active fan of LSU Athletics. Mr. Moore and his family were season ticket holders for multiple sports and often traveled across the country to watch the Tigers play.
Mr. Moore tragically passed away while traveling with his wife supporting the LSU Softball team in Palm Springs, California in February of 2015. Before his passing, Mr. Moore and his family made a financial commitment to the LSU Softball program for the Performance Center.
“I find myself just wandering around here smiling,” said head coach Beth Torina. “Because of how amazing this is and what this facility truly represents. We have done something to set the bar in our sport and for women. We are raising the bar here at LSU.
“The Mike” features a full sized infield with custom, motorized netting surrounding the entire surface. This allows the team to participate in full infield, hitting, slapping or pitching drills regardless of weather conditions outside.
Each hitting lane is wired electricity which provides the staff and student-athletes the capability to set up multiple batting machines throughout the facility. The facility also is wired for a custom multi-camera system that provides the student-athletes and staff with a chance to immediately review film during practice.
The building is equipped with 517 square feet of storage space and a 240 square foot locker room area. Lighting is energy efficient with impact-resistant LED fixtures. A custom turf, that mirrors real grass in terms of playability and performance, was installed with LSU branding through the entire indoor. Graphics were placed throughout the interior of the facility that honors the history of LSU softball.
Single-game tickets for the 2020 LSU softball season are now on sale through the LSU Ticket Office and online at LSUtix.net. For more information on the 2020 softball schedule, click here.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball along with @lsusoftball and @BethTorina on Twitter and @lsusoftball on Instagram.