The No. 10 LSU softball team starts the 2013 season this weekend in the Tiger Classic, hosting five games in three days.
The Tigers will begin and end the weekend with their toughest test, taking on No. 22 North Carolina on Friday for the first game of a double-header that includes Purdue later Friday night. After another double-header with Tulsa and Hampton on Saturday, the Tigers will wrap up their weekend with a second matchup with the Tar Heels on Sunday.
This weekend is the Tigers’ first action since losing to Arizona State in last year’s Women’s College World Series. After tasting postseason success, many of the players from last season’s squad are eager to make a return trip.
“Last year was just a great experience,” said junior infielder Allison Falcon. “It’s not that last year was enough. I definitely want to get back and keep going.”
The Tigers stunned many with their run to the World Series last year in coach Beth Torina’s first season.
But LSU won’t be able to slide into another successful season virtually unnoticed. The Tigers are ranked in the top 10 to start the season for the first time since 2008.
Now with Torina’s coaching system in full swing in her second season and the success the Tigers experienced in 2012, opponents will be keeping a more wary eye on the Tigers’ progress in 2013.
“It’s great that we are respected now in the game because last year no one expected us to even get out of our regional,” said junior outfielder Simone Heyward. “It’s really great to have that feeling to be ranked so high.”
For a Tiger lineup that totaled a poor .220 team batting average last season but held opponents to just 1.58 runs per game, success relied on dominant performances from the pitching circle. They got those last season behind the arms of pitchers Brittany Mack and Rachele Fico, and they will need them again this season.
Though Mack is now gone, Fico, the Tigers’ standout senior right-hander remains.
Fico tallied a 1.12 ERA and 13 shutouts in 2012 that ranked fourth and fifth in the country on her way to a second 20-win season. She is expected to make her first start of the season against the Tar Heels on Friday, and it’s no secret much of the Tigers’ success this season hinges on her performances, Torina said.
“Of course, I don’t have to say much about Rachele Fico,” Torina said. “You understand her talent and her ability. She will continue to lead us on the mound.”
Joining Fico this year in the Tigers’ rotation is junior Meghan Patterson, who will get the first chance of her career to be an impact starter for the Tigers after biding her time behind Mack and Fico for two years.
Junior college transfer Ashley Czechner also joins the rotation in her first season with the Tigers after transferring from Chattanooga State, where she led the program to its first NJCAA National Championship and earned the Junior College Pitcher of the Year award.
Outside the pitching circle, the Tigers hope to leave behind the hitting woes that plagued their 2012 season with the help of quite a few new faces.
In addition to key returning starters like Falcon and Heyward, the Tigers are hoping freshman infielders Bianka Bell, Hailey Smith and Sandra Simmons can add a much-needed offensive spark.
“Bringing in these freshmen, they came in with a different mentality,” Torina said. “They are very aggressive type of hitters, and they are aggressive players. I think they will set the tone for our offense this season.”
Who: No. 10 LSU vs. No. 22 North Carolina
When: 4:30 p.m. Friday, February 8, 2013
Where: Tiger Park
