Southeastern Conference play is just around the corner for the No. 5 LSU softball team.
No. 4 Alabama will come rolling into Tiger Park for a top-five matchup between conference foes on Friday night. The Tigers (19-2) have their work cut out for them.
The Crimson Tide (20-2) have been the dominant team, making the Women’s College World Series the past two seasons.
But if LSU wants to win the series this weekend, it can’t afford to overlook any opponent, such as Longwood on Tuesday at Tiger Park.
“It’s kind of difficult not to [look ahead],” junior infielder Constance Quinn said. “You want to look to the SEC opening, but you have to take it day-by-day. You can’t really jump to that because you will overlook [Longwood].”
With 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. start times, the Lancers (9-5) will come to Baton Rouge for a rare midweek doubleheader. If the Tigers glance toward Alabama, they could quickly find themselves in trouble, players said.
Longwood has been a consistent team, posting at least 34 wins in each of the last three seasons, including two 40-plus win campaigns. The Lancers have also been in the postseason two of the last three seasons.
In 2016, they are one of the best teams defensively, allowing just 2.29 runs per contest. But the LSU offense has been on fire lately.
The Tigers have run-ruled seven of their last 10 opponents and are averaging 9.3 runs per game during that stretch.
“We can’t try to sneak past them,” senior infielder Bianka Bell said. “They’re going to bring their best effort at us and we have to go full force, and it’ll definitely prepare us for this coming weekend against Alabama.”
The Tigers’ hurlers are averaging just 1.08 earned runs per game and have averaged 7.1 strikeouts. LSU will be without sophomore Allie Walljasper, the team’s de facto No. 2 pitcher, who is recovering from an undisclosed injury on her throwing arm.
She is the team leader in ERA with a 0.42, but Torina said the sophomore’s ailment is not severe and that she should be available this weekend against
Alabama.
After sophomore pitcher Carley Hoover threw nearly 200 pitches in the Tigers’ last three games, freshman Sydney Smith and junior Baylee Corbello will likely be the LSU starters in the circle. But Hoover could come in as a reliever if one of the other two struggles.
Smith is coming off her first career perfect game, the fourth in program history, on Friday. She is behind only Walljasper, with a 0.78 ERA, and has tallied 31 strikeouts in her six appearances.
The freshman hurler has the second-best team batting average allowed. Batters are hitting just .196 off the freshman, and she has earned 4 wins with no losses.
“Our mentality is just to continue doing what we’ve been doing and get better every single day,” Hoover said. “[Smith] works extra in the bullpen with Baylee Corbello almost every day while the rest of the team is hitting, and I think it’s paying
off.”
Corbello brings the most experience to the LSU bullpen in her third season with the club. She has a team-high 2.07 ERA and is also a perfect 4-0 on the year.
LSU coach Beth Torina has received nothing but praise for the Farmville, Virginia squad.
“Longwood is a quality opponent,” Torina said. “They are a team that has done a lot … Our kids understand that it may not be a household name in college athletics, but in the sport of softball, it is.”