The road through the Southeastern Conference schedule gets no easier for the No. 5 LSU softball team this weekend as they host No. 7 Georgia at Tiger Park.
“It’s SEC play and it’s time to do what we have to do,” said LSU center fielder LaDonia Hughes. “Everything has to be, I mean you don’t want to say perfect, but that is exactly how it [has] got to be for each and every game you play.”
Georgia (25-5, 5-1 SEC) comes to Baton Rouge as the SEC leader in batting with a .363 average. The Bulldogs have five batters hitting better than .393, including two — Kim Wendland and Nicole Barber — hitting more than .500 for the season. Wendland leads the team in batting average (.517), home runs (5) and doubles (11).
“They are a great team and they have great hitting,” said coach Yvette Girouard.
But Girouard was quick to mention that the Bulldogs are not just a one dimensional team.
“[Georgia] has some great pitching,” Girouard said. “They do a lot of things correctly. Michelle Green was outstanding last year, and she is showing the same signs this year.”
LSU (26-5) batters will have their work cut out for them this weekend as Georgia pitchers have combined to post a 1.31 ERA throughout the season. Junior right-hander Michelle Green leads the team with a 13-2 record.
The Tigers, who slightly trail the Bulldogs in hitting with a .341 batting average, have already defeated Georgia once this season. The Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 5-2 in the semifinal at the NFCA Tournament on Feb. 29.
“In Columbus they jumped out on top and it was 1-0 early,” Girouard said. “But that was a weekend in which we refused to die. We will have to do that again because you are not going to completely shut them down so we just have to battle for seven innings.”
Senior pitcher Kristin Schmidt (15-3) said Georgia’s lineup will be tough to get out this weekend.
“They have a very strong lineup one through nine and strong players on their bench so it is going to be a tough weekend,” Schmidt said. “I think it is going to come down to whoever blinks first.”
The Tigers are led offensively by freshman left fielder Leslie Klein. Klein leads the team in hits (40), runs (27), home runs (8), RBIs (31) and slugging percentage (.736).
LSU enters the weekend series as winners of 21 out of its last 23 games. Conversely, Georgia has won 14 of its past 15 games.
The three-game series begins with a doubleheader Saturday at 4 p.m. and a single game Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.