The No. 23 LSU softball team didn’t let a bump in the road deter it from a successful spring break.
A week after sweeping then-No. 1 Alabama, the Tigers (31-15, 13-9) had an 11-game winning streak snapped when they dropped three straight games to then-No. 6 Tennessee. The Volunteers brought the Tigers back to earth, outscoring them 24-2 in the series.
But the Tigers didn’t hang their heads  — they swept a midweek doubleheader at then-No. 25 Auburn. The victories put LSU in sole possession of second place in the Southeastern Conference Western Division.
“It’s a never-say-die squad,” said LSU coach Yvette Girouard. “We got our behinds handed [to us] by Tennessee, but we managed to bounce back right after that. They don’t hang their heads, they don’t pout, they’ve never given up and they play hard.”
LSU continued the road trip, traveling to Oxford, Miss., for a weekend tilt with Ole Miss. The Tigers swept the Rebels, shutting them out in all three games of the series.
“Mission accomplished,” Girouard said. “The midweek [series] against Auburn was a tough matchup. And to be able to beat Ole Miss three times is an accomplishment, especially on the road.”
The five consecutive victories, combined with two straight losses by Alabama, leaves LSU three games behind the Crimson Tide for the division lead. Girouard said peaking at the end of the season is crucial to landing a high seed in the conference tournament.
“We want to finish as high as we can,” Girouard said. “The SEC has been thrown into a turmoil with people beating up on each other. We just want to play well and get hot.”
The Tigers continue to roll behind the leadership of pitchers Brittany Mack (13-5) and Rachele Fico (12-9). The two pitchers were shelled by Tennessee for 24 runs in three games, but since then the duo hasn’t allowed a run in four consecutive games.
“They can take us as far as we can possibly go,” Girouard said. “Any time that our pitchers give us an opportunity to win, I think we’re in the ballgame. And we do have two pitchers that can do that for us.”
After starting the SEC season in an 0-6 hole, the Tigers have won 13 of their last 16 conference games. Mack said the familiarity with conference opponents has helped put them in a favorable position with the SEC tournament on the horizon.
“We feel like we’ve faced everyone enough to know exactly how their pitchers throw,” Mack said. “And from a pitcher’s point of view, we know how their hitters are hitting against us. Going into the tournament we feel like we can dominate.”
With just eight games remaining for LSU, junior infielder Juliana Santos, who had four RBIs against Ole Miss, said the team is riding high into the climax of the season.
“We’re definitely playing ball the way we want to play, and the way we can and the way we should have been the whole season,” Santos said.
 
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Contact Hunter Paniagua at [email protected]