With LSU’s power surge at the plate in the 2013 season, it would be easy to forget softball is also a game of speed.
LSU’s 33 home runs this season have been key to the Tigers’ success, but also contributing to LSU’s 33-8 record is improved baserunning.
“Speed is huge,” said LSU coach Beth Torina. “They say speed doesn’t have an off day, and you can see that’s definitely true for our lineup.”
At the top of the lineup, slappers A.J. Andrews and Jacee Blades lead the Tigers in batting averages, hitting .364 and .362, respectively. As a sophomore, Andrews also leads the team in stolen bases, taking a perfect 16 steals on 16 attempts this season.
At the bottom of the lineup, LSU utilizes another speedy slapper, junior Simone Heyward, as a second leadoff hitter of sorts. However, Heyward adds another dimension to her hitting approach.
Standing at just 5-foot-1, her small strike zone has been a pain for opposing pitchers.
Heyward has drawn 12 walks and has been hit by 10 pitches to go along with her .349 batting average, which gives her a team-leading .488 on-base percentage. Couple that with her 11 stolen bases this season, and she doesn’t fit the stigma that the nine-hole hitter is the worst on the team.
“I actually like the expectation for people to move in because they don’t know what to expect,” Heyward said. “I know they’re saying, ‘Oh, she must not be the best batter.’ But then I come out and I’m actually the third slapper in the lineup, so it just adds one more threat to our lineup.”
As if the trio of Andrews, Blades and Heyward wasn’t enough, the Tigers’ ace in the hole is junior Alex Boulet, who serves as the primary pinch runner.
Boulet has appeared in only 18 games with five starts, but she is no doubt an added threat to opposing teams, scoring nine runs and stealing six bases on six attempts this season.
Torina hailed Boulet as the best baserunner she’s ever coached, which makes for a nicely deployable weapon in close games.
“If we put her in, we’re scoring,” Torina said. “The only reason I don’t put her in more is because I’m saving her a lot of times for the right moment when she’s going to change the game.”
But in order to get steals and run the bases, a hitter first has to get on base, which was a problem for the entire LSU lineup last season. This season, the Tigers have raised their team on-base percentage to .388 from .332 in 2012.
“Speed puts huge pressure on a defense and huge pressure on a pitching staff,” Torina said. “Your defense has to get rid of the ball so much more quickly.”
Now boasting power and speed attacks, it’s difficult to label LSU as strictly a power team or a speed team like in seasons past.
“We’re both [powerful and speedy],” Heyward said. “If you have speed on the bases from the top of the lineup, then you get to the meat of the lineup with their power. That’s dangerous.”
