After winning its first conference series of the season, the LSU softball team will continue a seven-game homestand against McNeese State (27-10, 11-3 Southland) tonight in Tiger Park.
Last weekend, the Tigers (22-16, 4-8 Southeastern Conference), led by SEC Player of the Week senior infielder Allison Falcon, overcame the consistency issues that plagued the first two games of the series against No. 2 Tennessee (32-5, 9-3 SEC).
Tennessee took revenge against the Tigers in the third game of the series, winning 9-0 in six innings. But Falcon said the Tigers’ impressive play in the first two games is all that matters to the team.
“We won the series against a great team, so we aren’t going to dwell on this last game,” Falcon said.
LSU will not see the same level of competition on the Cowgirls’ roster, but from this point on, every win matters, as they stand 10th in the conference rankings.
Midweek games like the matchup against McNeese provide an excellent opportunity to fine-tune roster changes that LSU tried against Tennessee.
After sophomore shortstop Bianka Bell was benched for committing two errors in game one against Tennessee, two different players started at shortstop in the following two games.
Freshman Constance Quinn started at short in game two while freshman Sahvanna Jaquish, who usually starts at catcher or designated hitter, started at short in game three when Quinn moved to third base.
“I wish we could find a spot for [Quinn] to play more often because she deserves to play regularly,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “She’s extremely talented and so athletic. … The future of the program is bright knowing that she will be a starter here for the next three years.”
Torina has an advantage of having another game to evaluate the play of Bell, Quinn and Jaquish at shortstop before she chooses the starter for Georgia on Friday.
While Torina has not announced the Tigers’ starting pitcher for tonight’s game, freshman Baylee Corbello has started most of the Tigers’ midweek games this season and figures to get the start tonight.
McNeese is led offensively by junior catcher Ashley Modzelewski, who has a team-leading 11 home runs and 38 RBIs this season, and senior outfielder Alanna DiVittorio, who is batting .407 and leading in on-base percentage with .542.
The Cowgirls’ rotation is led by sophomore Jamie Allred, who has recorded a 1.71 ERA in 139.1 innings pitched this season, including 13 complete games.
Regaining the consistency that the Tigers played with in the first two games of the Tennessee series is crucial to continuing to build the team’s confidence and momentum to finish their tough SEC schedule.
“They have done a great job of answering back,” Torina said. “That is something you love to see about your team. You know they are talented and that they can hit and they can pitch and all those things, but it is way more important as a coach to see that they have fight.”