Midway through its season, the eighth-ranked LSU softball team has “hit a bump in the road,” said sophomore pitcher Allie Walljasper.
The Tigers (26-8, 3-6 Southeastern Conference) have lost two-straight SEC series and were swept last weekend against No. 1 Florida, ultimately because of a dearth of runs. 
LSU’s offense was only able to muster two runs against its SEC foe and stranded 18 baserunners in the series, causing the Tigers to take a different approach ahead of their three-game series against No. 10 Georgia, beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday. 
LSU coach Beth Torina decided to change things up at practice this week. Instead of going through their normal workout routines, the fifth-year coach gave each player on the team a partner they would cheer for during practice.
Torina said she wanted her squad to get “removed from themselves a little bit.”
“We did a lot of stuff,” Torina said. “We’re encouraging them to just cheer for each other. They’re doing their best to get over some of the recent losses. They’re trying to get back to business as normal.”
Motivation from the autobiography of UFC fighter and former bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey also helped the Tigers.
“My Fight / Your Fight” was a book Torina had her team read in the fall. She decided to pull it off the bookshelf Monday for a little inspiration.
“It kind of matters what we think of ourselves, more than what other people think of us,” said freshman shortstop Amber Serrett. “Ronda Rousey said something in her book, like once you let people tell you that you’re up, they can also tell you when you’re down.”
The Tigers will go up against a Georgia team currently riding a five-game win streak that has won eight of their last 10 games. Winning in Athens, Georgia has been tough for opposing teams this year, as the Bulldogs boast a 15-1 record at Turner Softball Stadium.
Senior infielder Tina Iosefa leads the squad with 12 home runs. The Bulldogs sit atop the SEC in batting average at .378 and with 341 hits this season.
“It’s tough,” Torina said. “It’s a tough place to go on the road. We’ll show up and give them our best game. We’ll prepare our kids like we always do and have a good game plan.”
The Tigers will also be playing against a familiar face, as former LSU all-american pitcher Rachele Fico is an assistant and pitching coach for the Bulldogs.
Georgia and Fico will likely send out senior pitcher Chelsea Wilkinson and sophomore pitcher Brittany Gray in the circle against the LSU lineup. Gray (9-3) posts an ERA of 2.28 and Wilkinson (16-2) leads the team with 116 strikeouts.
“We know what kind of pitcher [Fico] was,” said LSU hitting coach Howard Dobson. “She was very good in her own right, for sure. She’s done tremendous things over there with them. It’s a little friendly rivalry.” 
Each week in the SEC is a battle for the Tigers. The matchup against Georgia will be the fourth-straight top ten ranked SEC opponent LSU has faced.
But the Tigers have put the past couple of weeks behind them and turned their focus to the future, they said.
“Playing in the SEC is a brutal schedule,” said LSU senior first baseman Sandra Simmons. “We’re just putting in a lot more work and focusing on the common goal we have in hand.”