Offensive updates
LSU coach Beth Torina and the Tiger softball team have focused their offseason on much-needed improvements to the team’s offense, which finished with a .221 team batting average last season, good for last in the Southeastern Conference.
“I’m excited for the offensive side of the game this year,” said junior outfielder Simone Heyward. “We saw a lot of younger girls, we call them Baby Bombers, they just keep hitting line drives and bombs.”
Only two Tigers recorded more than 40 hits last season and neither of them will be representing the Tigers in 2013.
Fresh faces
This season’s LSU roster boasts five freshmen to replace the seven seniors that departed at the end of last season.
“These guys will continue to set the tone for our offense bringing in these freshmen,” Torina said. “They came in with a different mentality. They’re very aggressive players.”
Torina cited Bianka Bell, Sandra Simmons and Hailey Smith as some of the top performing freshmen.
Simmons is expected to compete with sophomore Dylan Supak for the first base position, while Bell will start in the middle infield and Smith will fight for a spot in the infield.
New philosophy
The Tigers have adopted “Rule the Day” as this season’s motto as a reminder that the team can’t feel entitled to another Women’s College World Series berth just because they made it last season.
“I think this team understands that they have to do things very differently than last year,” Torina said. “They’re a different type of team. I think they understand they have to play differently, perform differently and, most importantly, they have to win differently than last years team.”
