The Tigers put up 22 runs in their two wins on Friday, beating SFA 10-4 in game one, and Drake 12-4 to wrap up the day. It was a chilly afternoon at Tiger Park, but the Tigers were able to battle back from a 4-1 deficit against the Ladyjacks and did not look back for the rest of the day. Three big things that stood out in the games played on Friday was the plate discipline for the Tigers, the pitching staff as a whole, and Ciara Briggs.
Plate Discipline
The Tigers made it to the plate 69 times in the two games, and closed out both games early with significant leads. Of those 69 appearances, the Tigers were able to work 14 walks and only struck out twice. Tack on a pair of sacrifice hits and we have 53 at-bats recorded for Tigers. The team hit 21 of 53 for a .396 average for the day, with Georgia Clark knocking in the most runs for the team, 5, on a bases clearing three-run double and a two-run homer to walk off game two with the Run Rule.
“Something we have talked a lot about is making sure [the team] is hitting their pitches they want to swing at. At times they’re swinging at pitches off the plate instead of swinging at things over white. They obviously did a really good job of that tonight, and they worked hard on it all week so it’s nice to see it come through for them.” Said Head Coach Beth Torina speaking on the plate discipline of the team.
One of the most impressive parts of this happened in the bottom of the sixth inning against SFA. With two outs and two runners on the Tigers worked four consecutive walks scoring three runs in the process. This was followed by an infield single by Redshirt Freshman Presleigh Pilon to score two more runs. Five total runs crossed the plate blowing a one-run game wide open.
The second offensive onslaught happened during the bottom of the second against Drake. LSU brought 12 batters to the box during the home half of the inning scoring seven runs. Five walks and three timely hits, one of which was the Clark bases clearing double, had LSU with a substantial lead for the rest of the game.
Pitching Staff
The pitching staff has had some trouble out of the gate to open the year, and today was no different. Shelbi Sunseri opened the series with four innings pitched and 66 pitches thrown, and Ali Kilponen pitched the later-half of the game throwing three innings and 56 pitches improving to 5-1 on the season.
In game two Freshman Raelin Chaffin made her second start of the season throwing four innings and 95 pitches but earing her first career win in the process. Shelby Wickersham came into the game against Drake in relief but only threw one inning and 14 pitches thanks to the run rule being implemented.
To be fair, the pitchers for SFA and Drake also had difficulty with pitch location and gave up plenty of runs in the process. However, for LSU it seemed like another off-night for a rotation that usually can get deeper into games.
LSU has only used five of their seven pitchers that are currently on the roster this season, with Taylor Edwards only appearing once in two innings of cleanup work in a 9-5 loss to Washington last week.
For all the pitchers today, both sides of the field, it felt that batters were working into deeper counts resulting in walks and waiting for their pitch to hit over the plate. When asked if it felt that opposing batters were more conservative in their approaches at the plate Head Coach Beth Torina had this to say.
“I think it was a tight zone, it’s a good strategy to be really selective and make sure you are hitting what you want to hit. If you’re in a tight zone you [as a batter] have a little bit more room to do that. I thought the zone was fair and it was the same on both sides.”
Pitchers rely so heavily on “painting the zone” and working to expand those imaginary lines drawn up by the Homeplate umpire. When working with one so tight it can be difficult to get hitters to chase resulting in higher pitches thrown and a few more hits and walks in the process.
The positives from today result in the number of pitches thrown for the starters. Coach Torina wouldn’t tip her hand as to who would be in the circle to start tomorrow, but based on pitches thrown Shelby Wickersham would be the most likely to give Sunseri and Kilponen a little more rest.
Ciara Briggs
Aliyah Andrews left gigantic shoes to fill out in centerfield heading into this season. With numerous SportsCenter Top 10s and electricity on the basepath, finding someone that could be the sparkplug for the team like she was in seasons past would be a difficult challenge.
A challenge that Ciara Briggs has slotted herself into quite well.
In the games today Briggs went three of seven, with two walks, knocked in a run, accounted for three herself, and swiped a bag.
On defense her range was on full display easily covering ground out in centerfield and certainly had a SportsCenter Top 10 worthy play with this diving play that saved a few runs from scoring.
When asked about filling the role of Andrews, Clark said “She’s done incredible things here that no one will forget. I’m just trying to do my own thing out there, show people what I can do to continue the greatness out there.”
It is big shoes to fill, but so far this season Ciara Briggs has done excellent work to do so.
Day two of the Purple & Gold Challenge will start Saturday with a matchup against Purdue with first pitch scheduled for 3PM, followed by the second game verses Drake. Purdue went 1-1 on Friday losing to SFA 2-0, and beating Drake 3-0 in the early slot of games. Purdue is 7-5 on the season with a team batting average of .266.