Head Coach Beth Torina had a conversation with former LSU Baseball Coach, Paul Maneiri, this past weekend where he reminded her that opening days can be more nerve-wracking than the game to get to the College World Series.
“You just don’t know what you’re going to get out of your group,” Coach Torina said in a press conference following the opening weekend. “I think I’m reminded of that today as it [opening weekend] didn’t start the way we wanted it to start.”
The past weekend was an experiment for Torina, moving around players in the line up, as well as on the field, in hopes of finding the team’s groove.
“We played a lot of different people; put a lot of people in different spots,” Coach Torina said, “I think we ran a different lineup virtually every game.”
For many on the field, these games were their college debuts. With the relatively young team, however, not everything fell into place.
“Throughout most of the weekend, we were on the field with five sophomores and two freshmen,” Coach Torina said, “so I think they’re going to continue to grow as the season goes on.”
With opening weekend in the books for this year’s LSU Softball team, let’s look at some takeaways from the different aspects of the game.
Offense
Experience played a huge factor on the offensive side of the game for the Tigers’ opening weekend. The Central Arkansas pitcher, for example, threw a bit harder than what the Tigers were really expecting. Experience proved to be a factor of success for these older players when adapting to the unexpected speed. The only upperclassmen in the lineup, Georgia Clark and Shelbi Sunseri, made the most noise at the plate. Clark was the first to add some heat to the Tiger offense when in her first at-bat of the season, she sent one over; a two-run homerun in the first inning against South Alabama. Clark’s success at the plate continued throughout the weekend, with eight hits, including a double and two more homeruns. Sunseri racked in five hits over the weekend, including a double, three home runs and nine RBIs.
“I love what we saw from Shelbi Sunseri and Georgia Clark, they’re the two oldest players in the lineup; they’re our lone junior and senior in the lineup,” Coach Torina said, “I think those two are going to lead us by experience.”
Daneica Coffey and Ciara Briggs also made an impact at the plate, as they were the first two hitters in the lineup. Both made solid contact with the ball at their at bats.
“I like where we landed with Daneica Coffey and Ciara Briggs at the top,” Coach Torina said, “I thought it was effective.”
Coffey had six hits on the weekend, including a triple, and Briggs had 8 hits with 2 RBIs.
Throughout the rest of the lineup, however, the bats wavered. With such a small strike zone, pitch selection had to be incredibly specific, which some athletes struggled with. A common theme throughout the weekend within the rest of the lineup was hitting just under the ball. This bat placement resulted in a ton of fouls or shallow popups, easy outs for the opponents’ defense. Many batters walked as well. Taylor Pleasants struggled at the plate and was one on the lineup that couldn’t quite get into a steady groove.
“I mostly did it to myself,” Pleasants said. “My pitch selection wasn’t very good. I am just trying to do too much. This week, I will go back to my process and do what I need to do, just working on my at-bats.”
Pitching
Shelby Wickersham led the way for the Tigers’ pitching staff. Out of the 30 batters she faced, she gave up five hits, and struck out 10.
“I thought Shelby Wickersham was one of the highlights of the weekend,” Coach Torina said. “It was nice to have her show up the way she did and give a really strong performance, I think we’ve been looking for that from her for a while now.”
Raelin Chafin, a freshman, also impressed in her college debut. She gave up five hits and struck out five out of 18 hitters faced. Shelbi Sunseri and Ali Kilponen both struck out 12 hitters on the weekend. Both Kilp
One thing to take away from the pitching performances by the LSU pitchers this weekend is for six games, not many hits were given up. Each of the four pitchers leaves opening weekend with an ERA under 2. While the Tigers did not have the opening weekend they hoped for, the pitching kept them in games, which will be important in SEC play.
Freshman
With Taylor Tidwell out for the season due to labrum and HAGL surgery on her left shoulder, second base is seemingly up for grabs. Sydney Peterson, a true freshman, began her college career this past weekend as the starting second baseman. Peterson saw a ton of action at second, and handled the position with near perfection. She saw playing time in all six games and had 18 total chances on the field with 11 putouts, 7 assists, including two double plays, and no errors at all. McKenzie Redoutey gave the Tigers’ freshman class their first hit at the collegiate level. In the outfield, Redoutey made a single put-out unfortunately accompanied by an error.
Raelin Chafin made her anticipated college debut on the mound against Central Arkansas. Although the team came up short in that game, Chafin still impressed for her first college outing.
“I like what Raelin did, I thought she was really strong,” Coach Torina said, “I think we see some things she can continue to work on, and obviously she’s going to keep growing, but I thought she had good command.”
Chafin held the professionalism of an upperclassman on the mound, despite her time up there being her first in purple and gold. She remained cool, calm and collected in the circle, undeterred by the nerves commonly accompanied with a season opener.
“When you talk about nerves, she [Chafin] was probably the least nervous person we had out there,” Coach Torina said, “I was so shocked by her response.” This shows Chafin is a competitor and a leader, even as a freshman; she’s not afraid to go in and do her job for her team.
Defense
Fans saw a solid defense for the majority of the weekend from LSU. Routine plays were made with ease, and the defensive performance proved to not be at fault for the Tigers’ shortcomings. Some errors were made, but these can most likely be chalked up to be due to nerves. For the first throw out attempt of the season from Morgan Cummins, for example, she overthrew Pleasants on second by a few feet. In the following games, however, her throw had runners beat by a landslide.
Routine plays have obviously been nearly perfected by the Tigers, and this was easily seen throughout the weekend. Double plays were made with ease while a few errors were tallied up, offense typically had little opportunity to snag a base if their hits were left to the infield to take care of.
Pleasants at shortstop made a few notable plays, with diving catches on hard line drives, and assisting in the completion of double plays.
Peterson also proved to be a solid second baseman with a couple of solid plays and assists in double plays.
Up next for the Tigers is the Clearwater Elite Invitational in Florida this weekend. LSU will be facing bigger competition in Oklahoma State, Washington, Notre Dame, Michigan and Texas Tech.
These bigger matchups will allow Torina and the Tigers to get a better understanding of just how well they will fare against more difficult and consistent opponents throughout the rest of the season.
The first game for LSU in the Clearwater Elite Invitational will take place on Fri., February 18 at 3 p.m. against Oklahoma State, the team ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 conference. Fans can watch from home on ESPNU.
Players on the LSU softball team huddle up Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, before LSU’s 8-1 win against South Alabama at Tiger Park on Skip Bertman Drive in Baton Rouge, La.
