The weekend started out rough for the No. 13 LSU softball team, but ended in impressive fashion when the Tigers were able to steal the series on the road against No. 10 Texas A&M.
It took a game for LSU to figure out the high-powered offense of Texas A&M, and once it did, LSU coach Beth Torina’s team never looked back, taking game two in extra innings and game three in just five innings — the first time the Aggies lost a game in five innings since 2009.
The Tigers won their fifth straight Southeastern Conference series and remained in first place of the SEC Western Division standings.
“I don’t think we were mentally shaken after the first night,” said LSU senior pitcher Rachele Fico. “We were swinging the bats really well, and we played really hard. We just needed to string some things together and were able to do that on Saturday and Sunday.”
Friday night was Fico’s seventh loss of the season after she allowed five runs in the first inning alone, eventually losing 6-2.
According to Fico, she struggled to make the necessary adjustments early Friday night. However, the All-American added once she finally was able to settle down, she thought she pitched well.
Fico was able to bounce back in her brief appearance in game two and complete the game in game three. She threw eight strikeouts in seven innings pitched between the last two games.
“On the mound and in the bullpen, I need to have the mentality to play whenever they ask me to,” Fico said. “We have really strong pitching with Ashley Czechner and Meghan Patterson. They’ve both been working really hard and have helped us out so much on the mound. … No matter who’s on the mound, I’m confident in both of them. … Not a lot of teams have that.”
Everything connected for the Tigers during Sunday’s top-15 matchup when LSU didn’t even need the full seven innings to close out a series victory with the Aggies.
A seven-run fourth inning all but finished the game for the underdog LSU.
“Our offensive was fantastic this weekend,” Torina said. “I think that’s the No. 1 thing. We had RBIs all throughout the lineup, all throughout the weekend. Everyone contributed, and I thought we did really well.”
The Tigers will have to regroup from their big win quickly for a game Wednesday against in-state opponent McNeese State.
Torina said she knows the game could be a let-down matchup with the 32-10 Cowboys sandwiched between No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 8 Missouri.
“That’s always a concern,” Torina said. “But when we play these in-state teams, they understand how important those games are for the program. I think we understand how quality of a team McNeese is, and I don’t think we’ll just look past them.”
