LSU softball has adopted a new mantra for their 2019 season deriving from LSU’s fight song — “Fight All the Way.”
LSU softball went 45-17 last season, with a record of 13-10 in conference. The team made it to the NCAA Super Regional, but ultimately fell to eventual national champions Florida State. The Tigers appeared in the Women’s College World Series for three years straight, until 2018. This season they hope to change that.
The Tigers are ready to fight this season. They’ve added 10 new players to the season after losing some key starters. One new player includes transfer senior infielder Amanda Sanchez from Missouri. Sanchez pulled some impressive stats at Missouri and transferred to LSU in hopes to keep them up. Sanchez herself embodies what it means to “Fight All the Way.”
“My fifth year, I wanna leave everything I possibly can and that I have inside me out on the field,” Sanchez said. “I’m gonna fight for my teammates, fight for, you know, LSU. Wearing [LSU] across your chest means a lot so I’m going to do whatever it takes. I think that kind of just defines what fight all the way means.”
As the Tigers look ahead to their season they prepare to face eight SEC teams over the course of 24 games.
SEC teams are always the biggest competitors. The SEC’s motto is “It Just Means More.” Each SEC team lives this out, including LSU. This is where LSU’s personal motto will become important. They will have to put up a fight against teams like these.
Junior pitcher Maribeth Gorsuch finds herself taking on new leadership roles as a key pitcher this season. Gorsuch said she’s looked forward to this and is excited, even though she knows she’ll have to put in the hard work. She is setting her mentality to be consistent in everything she does this season.
“Fight all the way is giving it all you got no matter what’s going on,” Gorsuch said. “Fighting for yourself, fighting for your teammates, fighting for the Baton Rouge community, fight for you and your team is the big thing. We’re not giving up. Tigers is our thing, we’ve gotta fight to be a tiger.”
LSU coach Beth Torina is very hopeful for this season. She has a fresh team with a fresh mindset. Torina was involved in the process of deciding the motto of the season. The phrase comes from the second line of LSU’s fight song. Torina believes it explains what LSU is in just four words.
LSU will get to show everyone what it means to “Fight All the Way,” Feb. 7 in Tiger Park when they face Tulsa for their first 2019 game.
“We just wanted a little more grittiness, a little more willingness to do whatever it takes,” Torina said. “Even if what it takes is getting hit by a pitch or diving into a bag, whatever it might be. Just he ability to do whatever it takes, be gritty, be tough and i think that’s just the atmosphere we wanted to create. We’ve been seeing a lot of it from this group.”
