LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard said she is “very optimistic” about her team’s start but hopes the team can take greater advantage of clutch game situations and progress more on the pitching front.After going 2-2 in the Easton Tiger Classic in the new Tiger Park last weekend, No. 22 LSU (6-4) hits the road tonight for a game against in-state opponent Southeastern Louisiana.”In some areas, we’re just inches away from being really good, and then in other areas I wonder how we could have just done what we did,” Girouard said. Girouard said the performance of freshman pitcher Brittany Mack made her especially excited.”Brittany Mack has really emerged into someone I predict will have a great career at LSU and is progressing rapidly,” Girouard said. “In softball, the softball gods giveth and the softball gods taketh away, but that usually evens out over your career.”Mack threw 176 pitches during her second career win Saturday against Texas A&M. She said she has concentrated the most on two pitches so far.”My changeup has been my best pitch, and my screwball is one I’ve been throwing a lot,” Mack said. “Against A&M, I probably threw [the screwball] about 90 percent of the pitches. Whenever I was in high school, I always thought you had to have a bunch of pitches to perform well, but Coach [Girouard] has said if I hit my spots, I can live off that.”Mack said it wasn’t too difficult to throw that many pitches Saturday and that she enjoys being on the mound for so long.”I actually do better the longer I pitch. I don’t know why,” she said. “In high school, I was able to pitch 21 innings [in one game]. I’m just so used to throwing long games that my shoulder has never really gotten tired.”Mack’s lone loss of the season came Sunday against Sam Houston State when she gave up a home run in the eighth inning. That turned out to be the difference in the game.”Mack threw a great game but made one mistake,” Girouard said. “But if you don’t touch the dish, you never win, so I’m not blaming it on that one pitch.”Girouard said she is discouraged about the team’s lack of production at game-changing junctures.”Too many people are being left on in what we call primetime situations,” Girouard said. “That’s really hurting us. We’re getting people on, but we just can’t drive them in. It’s coming back to haunt us. It haunted us against Sam Houston, and it haunted us against Hawaii.”Junior outfielder Rachel Mitchell, who is third on the team with a .267 batting average, said the youth of the team contributes to a slow start in some areas.”Pretty much every year I start off pretty slow,” Mitchell said. “I just have to get back in that groove of feeling my swinging. It’s important to come out early and take extra cuts off tees … trying to get muscle memory back and stuff. Our team is brand new; we just want to go out and prove ourselves. We have nine new freshmen, and one transferred and never played in this conference at this level.”After defeating a high-ranked Texas A&M team twice over the weekend, Girouard said the Tigers cannot overlook their matchup against Southeastern, which is 4-2 on the season.”I have to reiterate to the team that every time you go to a state school, it’s a huge game for them, just like it was a huge game for Sam Houston to beat LSU,” Girouard said Sunday. “They’ve got to know that. It’s about the big ‘F’ word — focus. They’re going to have to be focused.”- – – -Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]