LSU has officially earned a place in the Southeastern Conference tournament. Unfortunately, this does not exclude them from a season-ending, four-game road trip. The Tigers (38-14, 15-10 SEC) travel to Hammond tonight to take on Southeastern Louisiana (27-23), and they finish the SEC schedule at South Carolina (20-24, 7-16 SEC) this weekend. The week-long trip is sandwiched between two important weekends at Tiger Park. LSU swept Arkansas in its final home SEC series this past weekend, guaranteeing the Tigers a place in the postseason SEC tournament. Senior second baseman Shannon Stein’s walk-off home run Saturday in extra innings of game two kept the chances of a sweep alive. “It was like a storybook ending,” said LSU coach Yvette Girouard. “Couldn’t have scripted it any better. All the seniors had a great weekend and to win all three was perfect.” Stein was all smiles recounting her final series at Tiger Park and said the team is ready for the postseason. “I guess I couldn’t have ended things any better,” Stein said. “We never want to look past teams. Southeastern cost us hosting regionals last year.” In a similar situation this past season, Southeastern upset the Tigers 1-0 in Hammond. The result hurt the Tigers’ record enough to keep them from hosting a regional in the postseason. The team eventually lost in the NCAA Super Regionals. Even with a tournament bid secured, Girouard emphasized the importance of wins. “It’s all about seeding purposes and all about pride,” Girouard said. “There’s a possibility we could finish third [in conference] and that’s our goal.” Girouard could use the remaining week to rest her pitching staff. Senior pitcher Dani Hofer is “week to week” with an injured wrist, and sophomore Cody Trahan performed impressively in three consecutive starts against Arkansas. “Cody will definitely get the first game this weekend, but she won’t pitch [today],” Girouard said. “[Today] will be Casey [Faile] and Tiffany [Garcia].” Girouard was not as optimistic about Hofer. “Every week they’re trying to do a little bit more with her,” Girouard said. “But right now we don’t know.” The Tigers’ sweep of the Razorbacks did not go unnoticed around the SEC. LSU outfielder Rachel Mitchell’s efforts over the weekend earned her SEC Player of the Week honors. The sophomore finished the series with a stunning .857 batting average, blasting a double, a triple and three home runs. “If I go out there, and I try to do well and try to hit home runs. It normally doesn’t turn out that way,” Mitchell said. “I’m just taking it easy and trying to be relaxed and focusing on the pitches I want to swing at.” First pitch at Southeastern is set for 6 p.m. This weekend the team will play the Gamecocks on Saturday at noon and 2 p.m and Sunday at noon. The SEC tournament is scheduled for May 8-10.
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