On the surface, Thursday’s practice for the No. 5 LSU softball team (42-7, 19-3) contained nothing out of the ordinary, from the shouts of encouragement among teammates to the silent but intense look of LSU coach Yvette Girouard sitting behind home plate.
Beneath the surface, however, the Tigers found themselves in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar position – still reeling from a loss to an in-state school while at the same time preparing for a three-game series against the nation’s No. 1 team.
LSU almost made it to Saturday’s series opener against the University of Tennessee riding its third double-digit winning streak of the season, but costly errors in a 1-0 loss Wednesday to Southeastern Louisiana University have the Tigers entering the weekend on a longer losing streak than they could have imagined.
“I honestly don’t know what happened,” freshman left fielder Jazz Jackson said. “I think maybe we just thought we were going to get it done because we always get it done. We looked up: its the seventh inning, and it’s a runner on second, and we’re overthrowing the ball – game’s over.”
The Lady Lions battled the Tigers to a scoreless game with two outs remaining in the ninth inning. LSU junior shortstop Andrea Smith committed a fielding error, and freshman pitcher Cody Trahan made a throwing error on the final play of the game, allowing Lady Lions center fielder Kaley Christy to score from second base for the game’s only run.
Wednesday’s loss to the Lady Lions snapped the Tigers’ 55-game winning streak against in-state competition. Before the week began, LSU had not dropped a contest to a Louisiana school since a 2-1 defeat against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in April 2001.
“It’s an excuse to say we were looking toward Tennessee, [and] we don’t make excuses,” Girouard said. “We got beat. Now our attention is squarely on Tennessee.”
Girouard said she made it a point to have her team forget about the devastating loss.
“We talked on the bus [Wednesday night], and we told them to reflect on what they could have personally done better,” she said. “We said they needed to reflect on it, but when they woke up [Thursday morning] it’s gone. I learned a long time ago that players are far more resilient than coaches.”
In anticipation of the Volunteers, Girouard had base runners leaving the bases early during batting drills Thursday to simulate Tennessee’s overall team speed. Girouard said she thinks the Tigers have made the adjustments necessary to be successful this weekend.
“I know that we’ll be prepared,” she said. “It’s just a matter of whether our players can be focused and execute the game plan.”
Two of the three games against Tennessee will be nationally televised on ESPN2, marking the first time the national sports network will visit Tiger Park. LSU played on the ESPN family of networks six times during the 2006 season.
Girouard said the hype surrounding the Tennessee series is flattering but with so many veterans having played on the national stage, she has no qualms about the team being over-anxious.
“There’s no question that there’s a lot to play for this weekend but the season will not end in one weekend,” she said. “That’s the great thing about what we’ve done so far. This weekend does not make or break us.”
Tennessee has been atop the national polls for 11 straight weeks and takes a 25-game winning streak into Baton Rouge. Statistically, the Vols have the best pitching staff in the Southeastern Conference with a team ERA of .64 and an opponents’ batting average of .104.
Offensively, Tennessee senior outfielders India Chiles and Lindsey Schutlzer are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the SEC in batting average, but LSU sophomore pitcher Dani Hofer (21-1) said such statistics will not affect her mindset this weekend.
“I don’t want to put more pressure on myself because that might make me not throw as well and be timid,” Hofer said. “I’m just going to do the best that I can to hold down their offense.”
—–Contact Will Dunn at [email protected]