LSU head coach Yvette Girouard and her staff walked into Tuesday’s softball media day decked out in all black outfits. However, she made it clear right from the get go she was by no means sad or upset about the seventh-ranked LSU softball team.
“Do not be fooled by the all black look,” Girouard said. “I am not in mourning.”
However, many people in Girouard’s position might be in a constant, melancholy mood.
Girouard only has 12 healthy players and one pitcher at her disposal. She has eight positions to fill and her one pitcher, junior Kristin Schmidt, has to be a workhorse.
The second option at pitcher, sophomore Tessa Lynam, recently broke her hand and will be out for at least three more weeks.
Also, senior first baseman Christy Connor is experiencing back problems, which most probably will relegate her to the designated player position in the lineup, Girouard said.
The lack of depth at pitcher will likely cause Schmidt, who went 17-4 in 2002 in her first year as a Tiger, to pitch all six game the Tigers play this weekend in the LSU Tiger Classic. Girouard counts her blessings that softball is the sport she coaches.
“Luckily, as I was reading about Smoke Laval and his submarine pitcher in yesterday’s paper, [the softball pitch] is a motion where one pitcher can pitch six games in a three-day period,” Girouard said. “Because one [Schmidt] is about to have to do that, and it can be done. Luckily, I am not the baseball coach, and I only have one pitcher on my staff healthy right now.”
Girouard compared her team’s situation to that of the 2001-02 women’s basketball team that had seven healthy players available to play. Girouard even had women’s basketball coach Sue Gunter talk to her players.
“This team knows that they will not let what they cannot do interfere with what they can do,” Girouard said. “We had coach Gunter come speak to our team the other day, after she had to live through some of this herself last season after having so many injuries down the stretch. And she gave an excellent talk to our team.”
The Tigers, who will be attempting to win their fifth straight Southeastern Conference title, finished last season as the No. 9 team in the nation and continue to receive national accolades that excite Girouard.
“There are some lofty expectations for this program, and we indeed welcome them,” Girouard said. “We would always relish the bull’s-eye on our back rather than have low expectations for our program. We tell our team every day that obviously this is what this program has accomplished in the past to be ranked so high [No. 7], considering that we lost two All-Americans off our staff from last season.”
The prospects of the 2003 season, especially when Lynam returns, makes Girouard a happy camper and a person who believes her team can make some noise.
“It’s really funny,” Girouard said. “If you would have asked me a month ago about our team with 14 players, I would have told you that I absolutely love this team, and I still do to this day. I think that we have an intangible that coaches strive for all the time, and that is the fact that we have tremendous team chemistry right now.”