In the final week of the regular season, the No. 22 LSU softball team travels to face Kentucky with Southeastern Conference seeding and NCAA Regional hopes hanging in the balance.
After dropping two of three contests against then-No. 15 Georgia (38-13, 15-10 SEC) last weekend, the Tigers’ (34-18, 15-10 SEC) remaining games are increasingly important to the team’s postseason slate.
“We definitely need to get all three wins,” said LSU senior pitcher Brittany Mack. “There’s still talk about us hosting a regional.”
The Tigers’ No. 20 RPI puts the team just outside the top 16, the number of teams hosting NCAA Regional tournament games.
“I feel like you never know what the committee is going to decide,” said LSU coach Beth Torina. “All we can do is present the best case we can by winning the rest of our games.”
Kentucky comes into the weekend one game under .500 for the season and in the SEC but on the heels of a series victory over then-No. 2 Florida (43-8, 20-5 SEC). The Wildcats also took two-of-three from then-No. 10 Georgia in mid-April.
“Kentucky is about as high and low as you can get,” Torina said. “They can be the absolute best team in the conference on days where they want to be. I expect that’s what we’re going to get.”
Torina said Kentucky will be playing knowing a couple of wins could drastically affect its postseason outlook.
“Kentucky needs to win this weekend,” Torina said. “Of course, we want to win, but Kentucky needs to win. I think that’s always a challenging weekend for you when that happens.”
Despite playing a team under pressure and confident after an upset series victory last weekend, Mack said the Tigers are playing with confidence of their own.
“After two upsetting days [last weekend], still coming back and getting the win on Sunday, we’re going into this weekend with a big win against someone that has always been a tough competitor for us,” Mack said.
LSU scored two runs and tallied just 10 hits in 29 innings against Georgia, but Torina said LSU still has confidence executing its offense at the plate.
“I feel like we’ve faced an All-American every single weekend here for the past three or four weeks,” Torina said. “This is not the team that’s going to hit 100 home runs. That’s not our game. But we do a really good job of finding our way on base, moving runners and being selfless.”
Regardless of the offense’s production, the Tigers can likely lean on junior pitcher Rachele Fico, whose 0.90 ERA is best in the NCAA.
Against Georgia, Fico became the seventh pitcher in LSU history to reach the 500 career strikeout mark.
The Tigers face Kentucky on Friday at 5 p.m., followed by consecutive noon contests on Saturday and Sunday.
LSU’s postseason run starts Thursday when the SEC tournament begins in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
 
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