The LSU softball team travels to Houston, Texas, this weekend to take part in the Houston Crowne Plaza Classic at the University of Houston.
The No. 5 Lady Tigers (7-0) start the three-day event today at 5 p.m. with a double header against Missouri State University and Houston.
LSU coach Yvette Girouard said although her squad is undefeated, she feels the pitch selection and run production need to improve.
“We would just like to bury the opponents a little sooner,” Girouard said. “The object of the game is to win, and if you have a rule in place that says you can finish it in five innings, why not take advantage of it?”
The “rule” Girouard spoke about is the NCAA softball rule that states if a softball team is leading by eight or more points after the fifth inning, the game will immediately be ended.
Junior outfielder Dee Dee Henderson said she feels the team has allowed some of the past seven opponents hang in the game too long.
“We need to hit,” Henderson said. “Our pitchers have been pitching great. When it comes time for us to take the field in the fifth inning, we should have been pummeling teams … Five-inning games don’t need to go seven innings.”
With a team batting average of .343 and scoring almost six runs a games through seven games, the Tigers goes into this weekend’s tournament.
After giving up less than a run per game, junior second baseman Shannon Stein said the team’s pitching has carried the team and said playing teams they do not regularly see should not be a challenge.
“Our pitchers have just been amazing,” Stein said. “They’re hitting all the right spots, and they’re doing an excellent job of keeping us in the game. We don’t worry about the name on the other team’s jersey. We have prepared for this weekend the same as we would for an Auburn or University of Arizona.”
The Lady Tigers will face Texas State University and the University of Indiana on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. and will wrap up play Sunday when they play Southern Illinois University at 11 a.m.
Junior second baseman Vanessa Soto leads the Tigers with with 11 RBI’s while batting .280.
—–Contact Jay St. Pierre at [email protected]