LSU coach Yvette Girouard’s career credentials speak for themselves – five Women’s College World Series appearances, 12 Louisiana Coach of the Year awards, 25 consecutive winning seasons and an induction into the Louisiana Softball Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame in 2002.
But every now and then, even the most successful and legendary coaches have that one player who slips through their fingers. For Girouard, one of those players was Tigers’ junior third baseman Tayl’r Hollis.
Hollis eventually came back to the hands of Girouard and is now a vital member of the No. 6 LSU softball team’s success this season. But two seasons ago, the St. Amant native was fielding ground balls and hitting home runs for the University of Oklahoma.
“The killer was she actually lived basically a block from my house in Broussard, and the Oklahoma coach just came down my street and took her from me,” Girouard joked.
Hollis was a three-time all-state selection at St. Thomas More High School in Lafayette. She batted above .400 in each of her first three high school seasons, and that success followed Hollis 600 miles northwest to Norman, Okla.
“I heard so many good things about [Oklahoma coach] Patty Gasso,” she said. “They had won the World Series in 2000, and everything I had ever heard about her was positive. I couldn’t pass up that opportunity, and my dad always told me, ‘If you go [and] you don’t like it, you can always come back.’ I kind of didn’t want to regret not trying something.”
Hollis started 56 of her 59 games for the Sooners and batted .286 while hitting seven home runs, the third highest total on the squad.
But something far removed from the softball diamond forced Hollis to pick up her bat and glove and return to Louisiana – homesickness.
“I couldn’t handle never seeing my family,” she said. “I just was unhappy because I didn’t have anyone there.”
Hollis was not officially granted a release from the Oklahoma softball program, forcing her to sit out the 2006 season and lose a year of college eligibility.
“I’ve known her since she was 9 years old, and she’s one of the biggest competitors I’ve ever seen,” Girouard said. “To have to sit back and watch must have just killed her, but we’re very grateful. She’s meant an awful lot to this program in a short amount of time.”
Hollis finally set foot on the field for the Tigers in this season’s opening game Feb. 9 against the University of Memphis. She went 1-for-3 in that contest and scored two of LSU’s three runs in the team’s 3-1 victory.
Unfortunately, Hollis soon found herself in a familiar situation, watching from the dugout as her team continued to pick up wins. She broke her left index finger sliding into home plate Feb. 23 against Louisiana Tech University and missed the Tigers’ following 15 games.
“The second I slid into home I was like, ‘It’s broken,'” she said. “I was just miserable because I’d already sat out a whole year, and I didn’t want to sit out more. I’ve always had a very big passion for this game, but after I had to sit out and watch everyone else play it was like, ‘I’m not taking this for granted, ever.’ It almost kind of helped me.”
So far this season, Hollis is hitting .348 and has hit seven home runs this season, including three in the Tigers’ past three games.
Girouard said Hollis is one of the few players she has seen who can intimidate opposing pitchers while in the batters’ box.
“There’s not very many players that can walk up to the plate and are so confident in their ability,” she said. “The ones that have that kind of mentality are very special ball players.”
That confidence has Hollis riding a 13-game hitting streak going into the Tigers’ weekend series with the University of Arkansas (20-35, 5-14).
The Razorbacks took two of three games from LSU in the 2006 season, and senior Kristen Hobbs said the Tigers cannot overlook Arkansas to think about next weekend’s series against No. 1 University of Tennessee.
“It’s not necessarily that we don’t play our best game there, [but] it’s just that [we] make it a little harder on ourselves,” Hobbs said.
Hollis said having a slipup in Fayetteville could cost the Tigers later in the season.
“Like instead of hosting a Super Regional, we’ll have to go somewhere just [because of] losing a game to Arkansas,” she said. “It’s just as important as that Tennessee series.”
—–Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]