The LSU softball team has a strong homegrown seasoning, but it is out-of-state players that give this year’s team a nationwide flavor.
Although Louisiana is the most represented state on the team with six players, five players hail from California, three from Florida, two from Texas and one player each from Kentucky, Tennessee and New Jersey.
Florida native Dani Hofer had her pick of colleges, but she said she chose LSU because it had everything she wanted in a university.
“I always wanted to leave Florida because I grew up there, and I wanted to go out and experience something new,” Hofer said. “My coaches told me to make a list of what I wanted in a school, and when I got here, LSU had everything and more. The team and the coaches have made me feel like this is my home.”
Hofer made a great start in her new home. She recorded two wins including a no-hitter and 27 strikeouts in her first two starts.
Catcher Killian Roessner is beginning her second season in Baton Rouge. The New Jersey native has strong ties to LSU assistant coach James DeFeo, who is also from New Jersey.
“Coach DeFeo is from New Jersey, and I have known him for a long time,” Roessner said. “The softball in New Jersey is good but not as good as in the SEC. We also get a chance to play the Pac-10 and other conferences too.”
Roessner said the LSU football program had a lot of impact on her decision as well.
“LSU’s football program influenced me too,” Roessner said. “I got to go on the football field during several unofficial visits, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ The minute I walked on the campus I knew there was no other place that I wanted to be.”
Senior outfielder Camille Harris was also attracted by Tiger Stadium even though her hometown of Hendersonville, Tenn., is much closer to the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium.
“Neyland Stadium holds a lot of people, but it’s not the same kind of people,” Harris said. “Tennessee doesn’t have Mardi Gras beads or drunk fans. My hosts on my recruiting trip are now like my big sisters. That’s the kind of people that makes LSU great.”
Outfielder Erika Sluss, who is from California, wanted something completely different than her home state had to offer.
“All we hear about in California is UCLA or Cal,” Sluss said. “I didn’t want to be back on the West Coast at all.”
LSU coach Yvette Girouard has spent her entire career in Louisiana, but she has had recruiting success outside the state since she became the LSU coach in 2001.
“LSU sells itself,” Girouard said. “It is a fabulous university in a fantastic college town with tremendous athletic teams. There is no real money in professional softball for these women, so these four years are it for them. The fit has to be right, and they have to be happy with their university.”
Catcher and Florida native Kristen Hobbs only had to see an LSU packet to “get goose bumps.”
“I didn’t know much about LSU until I got the packet in the mail about LSU and the coaches,” Hobbs said. “I visited South Carolina and Virginia before LSU, but as soon as I stepped off the plane, I just knew that this place had a special aura. I have never been to Louisiana before that, but I just fell love with this place.”
The Lady Tigers (4-0) continue their season Wednesday in Baton Rouge with a double header against Grambling State at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The Lady Tigers won four games in last weekend’s Purple and Gold Challenge.
 
 
 
Contact Matt Vines at [email protected]