In mid-March, the No. 12 LSU softball team lost two of three to then-No. 11 Texas A&M, dropping its first Southeastern Conference series of the season.

The Tigers (42-14, 13-11 SEC) went on a 2-7 stretch in league play, before closing out the season 8-1 in their final nine conference games. The team can get its revenge on the Aggies (37-17, 9-15 SEC) when both squads battle again in the SEC Tournament at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Starkville, Mississippi.

“Revenge is a good word,” said sophomore outfielder Emily Griggs. “We’re just ready to get back on the field. [The A&M series] definitely left a bad taste in our mouths.”
LSU’s lineup is mostly unchanged except for one key addition – freshman pitcher Sydney Smith.
Smith got her first SEC start against Georgia April 3 and has pitched all but one weekend series to close out the season. This weekend, the rookie pitched 13.2 innings against No. 13 Washington and allowed one run, while notching two victories.
The performance earned Smith SEC Pitcher of the Week honors and solidified her spot in the weekend rotation.
“She’s done everything that’s been asked of her the entire time,” said LSU coach Beth Torina. “She’s flown under the radar a bit early and that’s helped her now. I’ll take what we’re getting from her, because it is awesome.”
After the series with LSU, Texas A&M went on a slide themselves. The Aggies have won only two other conference three-game sets – one against last-placed Arkansas  to begin April and against then-No. 6 Auburn on Sunday – and have struggled away from home.  
The College Station, Texas team travels to Starkville winning nearly 69 percent of its games, but on the road that number drops to 31 percent.
Winning the series against a solid Auburn team gives them good momentum heading into the SEC tourney. But LSU senior infielder Sandra Simmons said the Tigers are better than they were in College Station.
“When we played them, we weren’t at our best,” Simmons said. “We are getting to that part [of the season] now. So, I think it will be a completely different background and I think there’s a little bit of a revenge [factor] too.”
In 2015, LSU lost its opening game of the SEC tournament and was eliminated from the competition. But the team bounced back to finish third at the Women’s College World Series.
Sophomore gunslinger Allie Walljasper said, despite the team’s “one and done” performance in the tourney a year ago, she hopes they can start a deep run into the event to prepare them for the rest of the postseason.
“We have the type of team that is built to win championships” Torina said. “We have a deep pitching staff, a lot of versatility on the bench; a lot of weapons. We think we have a team set up to succeed in a situation like this.”