The LSU softball team never has lost more than six Southeastern Conference games in a season since the re- establishment of the program in 1997.
Yet heading into Sunday’s game at Tiger Park against SEC West-leading Alabama, the Tigers already had lost six conference games with 11 remaining and the No. 18 Crimson Tide ready to win the series and extend their West lead to three-and-a-half games.
After winning the first game Saturday and losing the second, the Tigers were able to fight through a myriad of questionable calls by the umpires and a brisk wind and earn a 2-1 win to avoid picking up that seventh conference loss.
LSU head coach Yvette Girouard said the series win was a big one.
“We just keep trying to emphasize the fact that we may have lost some SEC games, but when it comes to the Tide and the Tigers, we seem to play pretty dang good all the time,” Girouard said.
Shortstop Blair Smith, who knocked in Julie Wiese on a double that ended up being the game winner, said this win will boost the Tigers’ confidence and may be big down the road.
“It feels great to win,” Smith said. “This win is huge. We needed to beat ‘Bama.”
Numerous calls by the umpires were argued by Girouard, who was ejected in the second game of Saturday’s double-header. She said she was impressed with the resiliency of her team to fight through the calls and still register a win.
“I was [impressed],” Girouard said. “I told them to let me do the communicating and to let them play.”
Smith said even though some calls were going against the Tigers, there was never a doubt in her mind of what the outcome would be.
“I always have confidence in my team,” Smith said. “But the umpires just seem to call everything so outside, I don’t know. But, we got the win.”