When a team starts a season with a 20-1 record it’s easy for fans to assume a certain invincibility.
Even though LSU had played a relatively light schedule heading into conference play, it certainly looked poised to be one of the SEC’s best teams.
A 2-1 series victory over a South Carolina team that only had two losses seemed to confirm that. LSU looked strong, scoring 16 runs and allowing six over the three games.
However, the Tigers’ lone loss, which the Gamecocks prevailed 4-2, highlighted a possible weakness. LSU got on base plenty with six hits and six walks, but its hitters failed when needed. The Tigers left nine runners stranded on base and struck out a combined nine times. The illusion of invincibility began to fade.
When LSU clashed with Tennessee in a perceived matchup of heavyweights, that illusion was put to an end. LSU was thoroughly outclassed throughout the weekend by a team that may very well be the conference’s best, losing by scores of 0-5, 0-3 and 2-9.
The Volunteers had only one loss on the season, and it was by only one run to Cal State Fullerton. Tennessee is ranked No. 3 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 4 in the NFCA Coaches Poll.
LSU had reached a rank of No. 10 and No. 12 respectively in the two polls entering the game, but the Tigers have since fallen to No. 12 and No. 15.
Just like South Carolina, Tennessee tested LSU and exploited its weaknesses.
LSU was shut out twice and put together only six hits on the weekend. The Volunteers’ pitching staff, one of the best in the nation, stifled the Tiger batting order.
On the other side, LSU’s pitchers were deeply challenged. Ace pitcher Ali Kilponen drew two starts on the weekend and picked up losses in both. She allowed 11 hits, 11 walks and seven earned runs across her 12 innings played in her starts. That made for a 5.25 ERA across the two games, standing in stark contrast to her 1.89 ERA average for the season.
Freshman Sydney Berzon, LSU’s emerging No. 2 pitcher, struggled similarly. She started all seven innings for the Tigers in a 0-3 loss on Saturday, allowing seven hits and two walks. Tennessee pounced on Berzon for three runs in the first inning. While Berzon settled in after that, the LSU offense couldn’t answer the Volunteers.
The hope for LSU is that facing a talented opponent like Tennessee early in the season will be a wakeup call and help the Tigers identify areas for improvement.
“The silver lining there is you get to see them early, and then you get to keep moving forward. I think we’d probably love to match up with them at some point later in the season to see if we’ve improved or where we’re at,” said head coach Beth Torina.
In addition to the disappointing weekend on the scoreboard, LSU was forced to play the last two games of the series against Tennessee without star shortstop Taylor Pleasants. Pleasants is still out and has been replaced at shortstop by junior transfer Karli Petty, who slid over from second base, where freshman McKaela Walker has now entered the lineup.
“Offensively, she’s a huge leader for us, and we just have to pick up the slack at the top and kind of just keep it moving,” said first baseman Georgia Clark about the loss of Pleasants.
Now the focus for LSU is to bounce back and return to racking up hits, which they did well in a midweek matchup against McNeese State on Tuesday. The Tigers collected 12 hits in the 6-2 victory and now look forward to facing a well-rounded Ole Miss team this weekend.
The team is determined to correct the mistakes it made in the matchups with Tennessee and improve upon its 2-4 conference record.
“For us, it’s just going to be executing little things. I think the more aggressive we can be, instead of letting the game dictate how we’re going to play that day, we go bring the game to it. This weekend, we’ll have a great opportunity for us to show some improvements,” said Clark.
