Spring break may be on the horizon for students, but the No. 21 LSU softball team doesn’t get any relief from the challenges of the Southeastern Conference schedule.
A week after sweeping No. 1 Alabama, the Tigers (26-12, 8-6) will host No. 6 Tennessee (35-6, 12-4) for a weekend series at Tiger Park. LSU coach Yvette Girouard said the SEC has supplanted the Pac-10 as the nation’s premier softball conference.
“There’s no question to me that it’s the toughest conference in softball,” Girouard said. “Literally every time you turn around, everyone’s ranked. It’s just an amazingly good softball conference.”
The SEC has seven teams ranked in both the USA Today and ESPN polls.
But LSU and Tennessee may be the hottest of those teams. The Tigers have won 11 straight games, and the Lady Vols are on a seven-game winning streak.
“They’re well rounded,” Girouard said. “They have very good pitching and some power hitters. Their speed game is incredible, and they put so much pressure on you.”
The LSU pitching staff will feel the pressure as they try to handle a Tennessee offense that has hit 49 home runs and stolen 100 bases. The Lady Vols also lead the SEC with a .357 team batting average.
“You can’t take a pitch off against a team like Tennessee,” said sophomore pitcher Rachele Fico. “We’re going to have to regroup ourselves, get locked in and focused and play the way we know how.”
Fico and junior pitcher Brittany Mack are coming off one of their most dominant performances against Alabama. The pitching duo allowed just two runs in 31 innings of work against the Crimson Tide.
But Girouard said the Tigers’ key to victory lies in the offense’s ability to score runs on a Tennessee pitching staff that ranks third in the SEC with a 1.90 team ERA.
“We just need to stay focused,” said junior infielder Anissa Young. “We need to win every pitch. We just need to swing at our pitches and execute.”
Young has become the most clutch hitter in LSU’s lineup, hitting two walk-off home runs against Alabama. Young also hit a two-run single in the ninth inning Wednesday to give LSU a 4-2 victory against McNeese State.
The Tigers have struggled to take down Tennessee in recent years and haven’t won a series with the Lady Vols since 2007. The two teams played to the only regular-season tie in SEC history in 2009 as the game ended in a 3-3 draw because of Tennessee’s travel arrangements.
 
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Contact Hunter Paniagua at [email protected]