The No. 20 LSU softball team begins postseason play today – as if final exams weren’t stressful enough.
“This week is awfully tough on our team,” said LSU coach Yvette Girouard. “We’ve had to come back from Auburn and take finals in two days before we leave for the SEC tournament … As coaches we have to be very aware of everything that’s going on with the team and don’t put any more pressure on them.”
The Tigers (32-15-1, 15-10-1) open the Southeastern Conference tournament tonight against No. 18 Tennessee (37-15-1, 12-12-1) in the final game of the first round.
LSU has won five of its last six games after suffering a four-game skid. The Tigers swept South Carolina in their final home week of the regular season, and they took two of three from Auburn in the regular season finale.
“It’s all about playing well,” Girouard said. “We need people to be able to breathe, to behave maturely at the plate and play good defense … This entire season has been an eye-opener for our team, and I think they realize this is a little bit more than what they’ve faced before.
The Tigers were in a similar hot stretch entering their regular season series with Tennessee. LSU had won seven of eight entering the series, but the Volunteers managed to win two and force a tie at Tiger Park. The Tigers were outscored 12-8 in their first of two winless series this season.
“We played awful all through that weekend,” Girouard said. “We didn’t pitch particularly well, we made a lot of errors and a lot of players had black hole weekends offensively.”
The Volunteers may be an even tougher out than usual this season, as they host the tournament from Lee Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. LSU hosted the SEC tournament in 2008, and Girouard said it isn’t as big an advantage as it seems.
“I’m sure they’ll be excited to play, but no home team has ever won [the tournament],” Girouard said. “We used to play at neutral sites, and since it’s gone to campus sites no host has ever won it.”
Should the Tigers advance tonight, they face the likely possibility of a second-round date with No. 1 Florida. Florida is the only other SEC team besides Tennessee that has not lost to LSU this season, sweeping the Tigers by a combined score of 16-0 in April.
“Everybody harps on the four-game losing streak,” Girouard said. “But Florida has swept everybody in the conference except Alabama … But we’re not even going to talk about Florida. We’ve got to concentrate on Tennessee.”
 
—-Contact David Helman at [email protected]