Goodbyes are usually hard. But for the LSU softball team, it won’t be so difficult. LSU coach Yvette Girouard had been promised a new softball stadium since she arrived in Baton Rouge before the 2001 season. She will get her wish when the new Tiger Park opens next spring on Skip Bertman Drive. “Hello, beautiful lady across the track,” Girouard said of the new stadium. The Tigers closed out the current Tiger Park in style, sweeping Arkansas, 4-0, 8-6 and 4-0. It was LSU’s first weekend series win since LSU swept Auburn on March 21 and 22. Sophomore Cody Trahan started games one and three and came on in relief in game two. She finished the weekend with three wins and 14 2/3 innings pitched, giving up only seven hits while posting two shutouts and 15 strikeouts. Trahan started in place of junior Dani Hofer, who has been out more than a week with a wrist injury. “We needed [Cody Trahan] to step up, and she jumped up,” Girouard said. Senior Tiffany Garcia started game two and gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings. Freshman Casey Faile relieved Garcia, and Trahan relieved Faile in the top of the eighth inning. The Tigers’ doubleheader Saturday was a tale of two stories. They jumped out of the gates and never looked back in the first game but needed late-game heroics to win game two. Senior second baseman Shannon Stein hit a walk-off, three-run homer to win the second game in the bottom of the eighth inning. The home run was only Stein’s second on the season. “I was almost in shock,” Stein said. “The whole team actually gets excited when I do get a home run.” Sophomore left fielder Jazz Jackson robbed Arkansas sophomore infielder Sandra Smith of a grand slam in the top of the eighth inning to set up Stein’s game-winner. “I had just told Dani [Hofer] half an inning before that if the bases got loaded, the ball was gonna be hit to me,” Jackson said. “I knew if I caught that ball, we’d come in and score.” The Tigers collected three straight singles by senior Dee Dee Henderson, Stein and sophomore Rachel Mitchell to open the first inning in the first game to go up 1-0. The team then posted back-to-back home runs, a two-run shot by senior Quinlan Duhon and a solo home run by senior Killian Roessner, to put the Tigers up 4-0. Mitchell racked up six hits and four RBIs this past weekend to push her team-best batting average to .377 on the season and .434 in Southeastern Conference play. Mitchell provided the first three runs in the third game with two home runs – a solo shot in the first and a two-run blast in the fifth. “She’s the one that needs to get the RBIs,” Girouard said. “I don’t want her to come back to the dugout with the bat on her shoulder. I just want her to swing, swing and swing.” The Tigers exploded for three runs in the fifth inning on four hits to push the lead to 4-0. LSU’s offense was not the only firework on display Sunday. In celebration of the final regular season game in Tiger Park, fireworks were launched behind the countdown sign after former All-American Lauren Castle put a zero on the sign, signifying no more regular season games at the stadium. But rain came down on Tiger Park after the display in the top of the sixth inning. The delay lasted more than 30 minutes. The Tigers hosted Senior Day on Saturday because of a Sunday rain-out threat. Seven seniors were honored with their names painted on the field. The Tigers travel to Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday before finishing the regular season at South Carolina on May 3 and 4. LSU hosts the SEC tournament May 8-10 in the final games in Tiger Park.
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]