At a university where nearly every athletic program is nationally relevant, there’s never a shortage of options. There are always electric playmakers to be found.
The Reveille Athlete of the Week is LSU softball pitcher and utility Jayden Heavener.
LSU softball started its season on Friday and it couldn’t have gone better. Opening against Charlotte, the Tigers defeated the 49ers 8-0 ending the game early in the sixth inning.
Heavener, a freshman from Pace, Florida set the tone by making LSU history for throwing a perfect game in her collegiate debut.
“I was over at third base, and we were about to end the game. I thought to myself, what a storybook moment it was,” head coach Beth Torina said.
In those six innings, Heavener threw 13 strikeouts not allowing a single hit or anyone to reach base. In half of her innings pitched she struck out the side.
Before she took the field for the purple and gold, Heavener was named the 2024 Florida Gatorade Player of the Year and 2024 Max Prep National Player of the Year.
“The theme this year is about writing a book, and I was just thinking about what a moment we have with this incredible player,”Torina said. “She comes out – everybody has been waiting for this moment – and she throws a perfect game in her first time out here at Tiger Park. It was an incredible day for the team.”
