Seven years ago LSU made it easier for softball co-captain Julie Wiese to stay at home.
Wiese, who grew up in Baton Rouge and prepped at Central High School, was provided the opportunity to play for the hometown school when LSU re-invented its lifeless softball program in 1997 because of a Title IX dispute.
“It came at a perfect time for me because I was coming out of high school and I did not want to go away for college,” Wiese said. “It was a great opportunity for me and I feel really blessed that I have been given this opportunity.”
Coach Yvette Girouard, who at the time was the coach at UL-Lafayette, said LSU’s program has been among the elite in the country since day one.
“It was phenomenal in year one,” Girouard said. “They did an unbelievable job of recruiting. What they got was a whole year to build their program before they even took the field. Those coaches did a phenomenal job, they had some of the best athletes I have ever seen. They were far and away the best team in the SEC.”
From the inception of the program, LSU has ranked among the best teams, year-in and year-out. In seven seasons, the Tigers have won six SEC Western Division titles, four SEC Championships and three SEC Tournament Championships.
In the USA Today/NFCA All-Time Top 50 softball programs released prior to the 2004 season, LSU was ranked No. 9 all-time. The poll was compiled using the points each team received in the voting polls for weekly rankings from the 1995 season to the final poll of 2003.
LSU is the youngest program in the poll to be ranked in the Top 10 and are the only team in the Top 15 that did not begin competition until after the poll began.
In its first year, 1997, LSU endured its lowest win total (44-14), but still managed to win the SEC Western Division.
Its second and third seasons were just as phenomenal for the Tigers, as they captured two more SEC West titles and won its first outright SEC Championship in 1999.
Wiese, who joined the Tigers softball team in 2000, said the commitment to winning at LSU helped contribute to the early success of the program
“At LSU you have a standard, and it is winning,” Wiese said. “You expect to win when you come to LSU and when you expect to win I think its harder to settle for anything else.”
In 2000, LSU captured its second consecutive SEC Title, but fell one game short of its first trip to the Women’s College World Series.
The Tigers rebounded in 2001 under the guidance of newly hired Girouard to attain its fourth consecutive 50-win season while making it to the WCWS for the first time in the program’s history.
LSU made the most of its opportunity in Oklahoma City by defeating No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 15 Iowa in the tournament before losing to No. 2 UCLA in the semifinals.
The Tigers have won 50 games in each of the past two seasons, but have failed to make a return trip to the WCWS. This season, LSU is 27-7 while achieving its highest ranking since the 2002 season, No. 5.
Girouard said the LSU softball program is at the point where excellence is expected each year.
“We certainly expect [this program to be among the best year in and year out] and I expect that out of myself,” Girouard said. “This is LSU softball and we expect to be good.”
Second baseman Sara Fitzgerald, who joined the LSU softball team in 2001, said it is a great feeling to be part of the growing stages of the program.
“We are the building blocks everyday,” Fitzgerald said. “Oklahoma’s program was set back in the day, and we are actually being able to set the steps for LSU’s program today.”
Wiese said the program will continue to grow well beyond the time herself and the other seniors leave the University.
“I have been here for five years and I have seen it through the good times and the bad times,” Wiese said. “You always want to leave a program better than it was when you came and so obviously that is a goal of mine and probably of all the other seniors on this team.”