Following Tuesday’s practice, several members of the LSU softball team gathered under the sun in the tiny parking lot of Tiger Park and enjoyed a post-practice meal together. The down-home feeling and friendly attitude often associated with the South was on full display following practice, and that attitude has been one of the main forces that has attracted several out-of-state players to the LSU softball program. “I always think it’s a culture shock for all the different states to come in,” LSU coach Yvette Girouard said. “But it’s the South, and the South is all about ‘We wanna love you, we wanna feed you, we wanna take care of you.’ I think it’s always so much easier for them to adjust to us than for a Southern girl to go to California.” When Girouard took over the Tigers in July 2000, she inherited a roster with 10 out-of-state players, compared to only eight players from Louisiana. This season, only three of the softball team’s 17 roster spots are filled by in-state players. Redshirt freshman Stacey Woods, who is sitting out this season because of offseason arm surgery, increases the Tigers’ in-state total to four. Girouard said her goal is always to recruit the best players Louisiana has to offer, but her offseason talent searches stretch beyond the borders of the state. “We want the best softball players,” Girouard said. “We want the best fit for the team and the scholarship that’s available at the time. It’s not like football where we sign 25 [players] every year.” Girouard said the Tigers are allotted 12 scholarships, and in-state players utilizing the TOPS program help increase the availability of scholarships for out-of-state players. In addition to the three Louisiana players, the current LSU roster has five players each from California and Texas. The Tigers also have three players from Florida and one player, junior catcher Killian Roessner, from New Jersey. Sophomore pitcher Dani Hofer is one of several out-of-state players who has had a major impact on the Tigers’ program. Midway through her second season at LSU, the Safety Harbor, Fla., native has a career record of 28-6, including 12-1 this season. Hofer said she always wanted to leave her home state to play softball, mainly because of the opportunity of a new experience. She said teammates have helped her adjust to life in Louisiana. “I didn’t know anyone when I first came, so [the team] really welcomed me,” Hofer said. “I miss the beach there [in Florida], but there’s lots of things about Louisiana and Baton Rouge that I like.” Junior first and second baseman Vanessa Soto is another non-Louisiana native helping carry the Tigers this season. Soto is No. 3 on the team in RBI and has started all 36 games this season. She said she has rarely experienced homesickness because of the off-field chemistry she shares with teammates. “The only time I ever really start getting homesick is when I have a little cousin having a birthday, and my family calls me … having a celebration and I’m missing out on that,” Soto said. “I don’t know if it’s like this at other places, but here we’re kind of like a family. We’re such a close-knit group that it does help take away a little bit of that homesickness.” Soto said being at LSU for three years has helped her slowly adjust to being away from her hometown of San Diego. “Now I like the freedom,” she said. “I like the feeling of being on my own, but my parents watch game stats at home and listen on the radio. My mom’s been here the last two weekends watching for the Florida and Alabama series, so I still get to see them.” Girouard said she works just as hard making players feel at home as she does planning game strategies. “We work very hard on trying to make this a family atmosphere,” Girouard said. “I don’t have any children, and whether they realize this or not, I regard them as all of my kids.”
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