LSU softball’s season came to an abrupt end last weekend in Tempe, Arizona. The No. 20 LSU team headed back to Baton Rouge on Sunday after two heartbreaking games took them out of the 2022 NCAA tournament.
“Obviously, this year did not go how we had planned,” Head Coach Beth Torina spoke after the game. “I think our team is talented, but we just could not overcome some of the distractions and some of the things that happened throughout. It’s not always about talent. This is not where we want to be, or where we plan to be, and we plan to use our off-season to find ways to improve so that we’re not in this spot again.”
Regionals began with the Tigers facing San Diego State on May 20. LSU was off to a bad start when the Tigers allowed the Aztecs two runs in the first inning. LSU was unphased though. The Tigers answered with two runs of their own in the second after sophomore Morgan Smith homered following Ali Newland’s single. Both teams continued to go blow for blow until they were 5-5 at the top of the fourth inning. That’s when things went south for the Tigers.
With Shelbi Sunseri at the pitch, San Diego State took the lead 8-5 by producing another three-run stanza. LSU seemed defeated after that point and only logged four more hits the entire game. The Aztecs secured the victory with solo runs in the sixth and seventh inning.
“We played badly. I mean I don’t know what else to say,” Torina said. “We did not execute. I thought our offense did a good job. We swung well. It just didn’t fall for us. Ultimately, we gave their offense too many opportunities. We turned their lineup over and they came to the plate too often.”
Junior Ali Kilponen finished with three strikeouts while allowing five hits and five runs. Sunseri finished with a pair of strikeouts and gave up six hits and five runs in 3.1 innings.
“I am confident that [Kilponen] gave us everything she had. I’m confident that she gave us her best effort, it just wasn’t her day.”
The Tigers’ luck didn’t seem to swing much the following day after their 10-5 loss to SDSU. The team faced Cal State Fullerton in an elimination game on Saturday. Kilponen pitched the entire game, striking out four batters while giving up four hits, three runs and two walks.
The Purple and Gold started off strong, going 2-0 in the top of the first inning. Third baseman Danieca Coffey and centerfielder Ciara Briggs both singled then moved to second and third respectively after Taylor Pleasants’ bunt. Clark sent both runners home after driving a single to shortstop.
The Titans answered in the bottom of the inning with three runs off of two hits and an error by LSU to give them the lead.
“I just feel like that sums up our whole season,” Torina said in frustration. “How do you bounce a ball off a helmet, and it goes into the dugout for two runs? It feels like what we dealt with all year long. Just bad break after bad break, and I know that you create your own luck so that’s on us, but it summed up the whole year in everything that happened to us.”
After a 3-2 opening frame, both teams were quiet for the remainder of the game. LSU’s defense seemed to lockdown after the error. It only allowed five base runners for the rest of the game. Yet the Tigers couldn’t seem to overcome the 1-run lead despite having a runner in the scoring position five times.
The game was the final loss for the LSU softball team’s 2022 season. This NCAA tournament was the first in program history that the Tigers went 0-2.
“I am proud of a lot of the things this team accomplished this year, some of them not just between the lines, but proud of the things that this team did in our community,” Torina spoke about her players. “This team was really special in a lot of ways and I’m proud of our three seniors and what they accomplished in their time. Shelby Wickersham, Jordyn Perkins and Shelbi Sunseri, who just led our team and was a huge part in everything we did for the last five years.”
The big question that remains is what will be next for LSU softball? Not long ago, the Tigers were on top. Fans saw the Purple and Gold make three straight Women’s College World Series then saw their win total plummet within the next four seasons (with the canceled 2020 season as an exception).
The team ended this season 34-23 overall and 13-11 in the conference. The competition will only get more intense once Oklahoma and Texas join the league in the coming years. This season, Texas went 41-18 overall while Oklahoma finished 51-2 overall.
“I think the standard of our program is to fight and I think that’s what we did all weekend. Every game we were in until the very last out and I think that’s what Tigers are,” Senior Sunseri spoke after the game. “That’s what we do. That’s what LSU does well. I think you’re going to continue to see that in the years to come. You’re going to continue to see them put in the work and fight every day at practice and every game to be the best that they can be, and I think that’s all that you can ask.”
