From the first pitch of an LSU softball game, the pitcher and catcher control everything that happens on the field.
The chemistry between the two is important. The power and stability of the defense and their confidence are essential to the overall atmosphere of the game.
“I think the majority of the pitching staff has been really good at being ourselves,” junior pitcher Carley Hoover said. “Coach [Beth Torina] told us at the beginning of the year that we’re very strong, and we can lead this team with our pitching and the defense will follow and I think we’ve seen that so it’s cool to be apart of.”
The defense trusts the pitchers and vice versa, and that is a part of what makes this team so successful.
“Teams know what they’re getting, but there’s something extra in there,” sophomore pitcher Sydney Smith said. “I think that trusting our offense and trusting our defense, our defense has been outstanding, I think, so me at least being a ground ball pitcher, that’s something that I really appreciate because it makes my job a lot easier which comes back to the whole thing. We just trust each other.”
Senior catcher Sahvanna Jaquish spends most of her time behind the plate, helping out all the pitchers and bringing confidence to the field.
“Having her back there and just working with the umpire pitch after pitch after pitch, she’s trying to get you the best pitches you can and I think that’s what really helps us,” Smith said. “Especially someone behind the plate, having her have that confidence feeds into the players.”
She makes sure to know everybody on the team, not just the pitchers. LSU coach Beth Torina said Jaquish knows what to say and when to say it.
Jaquish does that with every pitcher. She knows every pitcher individually and personalizes her interactions with each one of them, Smith said.
She knows every pitcher backwards and forwards, from their best pitches to their emotions on the field, and she uses that to be successful.
“I just like having her as part of the battery, and as my teammate, she keeps me calm back there,” Hoover said. “I know she has the same effect for the other pitchers so I love working with Sahvanna.”
Torina said she believes that the entire team is better when Jaquish is on the field leading the team.
Her confidence shows in the defense and pitching that surrounds her.
“I think when you’re that kind of player, I think it’s easy to, when you’re on the field, to expect people to live up to the standards, and she really holds people to a high standard of excellence,” Torina said.
The best feeling in the world for Hoover is when both she and Jaquish are having a great day at the same time.
“There’s no better feeling,” Hoover said. “We mesh well even when we might not be on the same page but when we’re actually all 100 percent into each other and like get that vibe going, nothing can replace that. No one’s beating us.”