To say that the LSU softball team is on a roll may be a bit of an understatement.
The Tigers have won seven straight and nine of their last 10, including six straight this past weekend to claim the Purple and Gold Championship at Tiger Park. LSU scored 68 runs in the six wins, while hitting .475.
But the competition and the runs will be harder to come by this weekend as the 13th-ranked Tigers (12-3) travel to Columbus, Ga., for the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
“This is a tremendous tournament,” said coach Yvette Girouard. “Our process is that we are just looking at our first game and that is it. We don’t talk about winning the tournament or anything like that. We are just trying to get better every day.”
The tournament features 24 teams, including 14 of the nation’s Top 25 teams. Among those at the tournament will be No. 3 California, which LSU will play on Saturday, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 6 Georgia and No. 9 Michigan.
Saturday’s matchup with California will be the second meeting between the two teams this season. California (13-0) won the first meeting in Las Vegas, 5-1, two weeks ago.
Left fielder Leslie Klein, who drove in the Tigers’ lone run in the game, said this weekend’s tournament will provide LSU with a chance to get back at California.
“We definitely want to come back and face Cal-Berkley again,” Klein said. “We think we are ready with more wins under our belt.
Second baseman Sara Fitzgerald said the key to California’s win in the first meeting was the pitching performance of Kelly Anderson. Anderson allowed eight hits in seven innings of work, but held the Tigers to only one run.
“We swung at a lot of her junk,” Fitzgerald said. “We need to just be more disciplined in the box and swing at good pitches.”
Swinging at good pitches is something the Tigers have been doing very well in their current winning streak.
First baseman Stephanie Hill leads the Tigers offensively, batting .512 with four home runs and a team-leading 18 RBIs.
As a team the Tigers lead the Southeastern Conference in batting average (.406), slugging percentage (.656) and on-base percentage (.472).
Girouard said for the Tigers to be successful this weekend the hitting barrage will need to continue.
“We will see much better pitching this weekend than we have seen previously,” Girouard said. “We feel really good about our offense to date. We have hit the ball well all year, even in our defeats, the only problem is we have not been able to stop the other team.”
Girouard said if the Tigers want to defeat California this time the defense and pitching will need to step up.
“We have to stop them offensively,” Girouard said. “They are a very good team offensively. I mean they are just sound. That’s why they are the national championship runner up.”
Senior pitcher Kristin Schmidt (6-2) pitched in the first meeting between the two teams. In five innings of work, Schmidt yielded five runs on nine hits and five strikeouts.
LSU will play two games on Friday against Ohio State and Florida Atlantic, and then will have the rematch game with California on Saturday. If the Tigers can win their bracket, then they will play in Sunday’s championship tournament.