As the softball season marches on with only three weekends remaining in regular season play, you’d expect some semblance of a hierarchy to have emerged in the SEC.
That’s been true to an extent, as there is no doubt who the conference’s top team is and there are also several identifiable cellar dwellers.
However, for the most part, the SEC’s pecking order remains clear as mud. That murkiness is owed to a level of competitiveness unseen anywhere else in the country.
The conference has a nation-leading nine teams represented in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll. In addition, each of the SEC’s 13 teams are ranked No. 51 or higher in RPI, with 11 in the top 30.
The SEC team ranked highest in RPI? That would be the LSU Tigers at No. 5.
You’d be surprised to hear that after taking a look at the conference standings, where LSU currently places seventh with a 7-8 conference record.
LSU’s ranking is buoyed by a strength of schedule that ranks among the best in the nation as it does most years, something head coach Beth Torina takes pride in.
However, the Tigers have looked less than dominant in conference play.
Before the season, they looked like a team capable of being one of the SEC’s best after returning most of last year’s roster with a renewed energy after a disappointing season, as well as adding several important transfers and freshmen. After a successful out-of-conference slate for the Tigers, things looked like they just might come together.
Instead, LSU has settled into a packed middle of the conference. Behind SEC-leading Tennessee, who swept LSU, with a 13-2 conference record and Georgia at 12-5, there are eight teams separated by only 2.5 games in the standings. This complete gridlock from third to tenth in the standings is where the Tigers currently reside.
“I just don’t think it’s at all decided,” Torina said of the SEC hierarchy. “It will, as always in the SEC where it’s so competitive, come down to the very last weekend and the last game, I’m sure.”
There’s still plenty of time for LSU to go on a run and separate itself from the rest of that crowded group. The Tigers are only two games behind third place in the SEC. However, in order for them to pull off such a run, some trends will need to be changed.
For starters, LSU has struggled in the openers of its conference series, having dropped the first game in each of its last four series.
It’s worth noting that in two of those series, LSU adjusted and went on to win the next two games, and it could’ve been three if not for an extra-inning loss in the series finale at Auburn. That ability to adapt will be useful for the Tigers. However, it’s also important to start a series with a statement, and LSU has not been able to do that.
“For us, it’s just coming out more aggressive, and knowing that we’re going to make our stamp on this game and not wait for something to happen to us,” said Georgia Clark, who has spent most of the season as LSU’s designated hitter.
In part as a result of LSU’s first-game struggles, the Tigers have yet to sweep a conference opponent, making them one of only four SEC teams–with Missouri, Ole Miss and Florida being the others–that haven’t done so.
Of the 34 different series that have taken place in the SEC so far this season, 12 of them have ended in sweeps. It’s not easy to defeat a team three times in a row in a conference as competitive as the SEC, but it’s possible, and it’s been done by most of the teams in the conference.
It’s telling that LSU has failed to complete a sweep. Consistency is what the team has been searching for throughout the season.
LSU has struggled as a whole to produce runs with consistency. Despite ranking No. 2 in the SEC in hits and No. 3 in walks for the season, the Tigers rank only No. 8 in runs scored. LSU has not been able to convert its opportunities into runs; it ranks No. 8 in the conference in batting average with runners in scoring position.
“That’s been one of the biggest differences between our games lately and the start of the season was the amount of runs we’ve been able to produce,” said junior shortstop Taylor Pleasants. “This weekend will be a great spot for us to get that back. Not so much trying to force it to happen but keep doing what we’re doing and trust the process.”
Power has also been missing from the lineup of late, with LSU ranking dead last in the SEC with only seven home runs during conference play. For reference, the leader during conference play is Georgia with 31, and five others have hit 12 or more.
Part of this is due to Pleasants, one of the Tigers’ best power hitters, suffering an injury that has limited her ability to put force behind her swing. Pleasants has eight home runs on the season, but all of them came in her first 18 games; she hasn’t hit one since March 3.
LSU has gotten good production out of its pitchers, with the staff ranking No. 3 on the season and No. 5 in SEC play in earned runs per game. Freshman Sydney Berzon has emerged as a legitimate ace, while sophomore Raelin Chaffin and freshman Alea Johnson have also had standout moments.
Although longtime ace Ali Kilponen has had a few hiccups–of 16 pitchers who have pitched more than 30 innings in SEC play, Kilponen ranks No. 12 in ERA–the pitching has most often been good at keeping LSU in games. Still, LSU’s pitchers have not gotten good support from the team’s offense often enough.
“We gotta try to get runs early, give our pitchers some confidence and some room to breathe the entire game,” Clark said.
LSU has nine games left in the regular season to establish much-needed consistency and separate itself from the rest of the teams around it in the standings, with series against last-place Mississippi State, Alabama and Georgia on deck.
“We can’t worry about the 45 other games that we’ve played. We can only worry about the next one in front of us,” Clark said.
