LSU softball anticipates bounce back year with veteran core

BY JASON WILLIS

@JasonWillis4

At the end of last season, LSU made history, but not in the way the team would’ve liked.

For the first time in program history, the Tigers were swept out of the NCAA Division I softball tournament, losing both of its games in the double elimination opening round at the hands of San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton. Those losses came despite LSU being the No. 2 seed in the Tempe Regional and being favored in both games.

In addition, LSU’s streak of 123 weeks being ranked in the top 25 dating back to 2014 came to an end after it was omitted from the final polls of the year.

This year, the Tigers are working to make sure a humiliating experience like that doesn’t happen again.

“It’s in every moment, it’s in everything we do,” said head coach Beth Torina, returning for her 12th season at the helm for the Tigers. “I don’t think a day goes by that we’re out here and we don’t know that we can do more and want to do more. Do we want those moments? Of course not, but maybe it’s a necessary evil to get you back where you want to go.”

The goal for LSU this year is to re-establish itself as a top program in college softball. Although the Tigers have made the NCAA Tournament in 16 straight seasons, they haven’t made the Women’s College World Series as one of the final eight teams since 2017.

That mission will be made easier by the fact that LSU returns many key contributors from last year’s team that went 34-23. The Tigers welcome back five players who were All-SEC and NFCA AllRegion honorees in centerfielder

Ciara Briggs, first baseman Georgia Clark, shortstop Taylor Pleasants, third baseman Danieca Coffey and ace pitcher Ali Kilponen.

In addition, LSU added two veteran transfers over the offseason who figure to make immediate contributions: catcher

Hannah Carson from Michigan and second baseman Karli Petty from Oklahoma State. Carson was a member of the All-Big 10 second team this past season and fills a position at which LSU saw several departures, while Petty made the NFCA All-Region team in 2021.

“We trust each other completely,” Pleasants said regarding the seasoned LSU infield. “I think it does make it way easier with the experience because you don’t have to worry more about the plays or where you need to be or where other people need to be.”

Despite returning a good bit of veteran production, LSU will also expect several freshmen and sophomores to contribute. At catcher, freshman Maci Bergeron will get plenty of playing time, and freshman pitchers Alea Johnson and Sydney Berzon will factor heavily into the rotation.

In addition, sophomore outfielder McKenzie Redoutey was described by Torina as the team’s most improved player, and she and sophomore pitcher Raelin Chaffin will be relied on to produce for the team.

STREAK, from page 9

Latinovic started the Tiger win streak with a close win against Grear, winning 7-5, 6-3.

Tied at 2-2 overall, Ronald Hohmann continued the success in a hard-fought battle, taking the first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6, and the second set 6-4.

To complete the comeback, Julien Penzlin won his first set in a tiebreaker 7-6, dropping the second set 6-3 to his opponent Salmon, but finished strong in the third set and took the win 6-3, securing the 4-2 victory for LSU.

Coming off of their big win against Rice, LSU completed the day with another win as they easily defeated Prairie View 7-0 overall. The Panthers proved to be no match for the Tigers, with LSU not losing a single set in the entire meet.

LSU looks to continue their three-game win streak as they take on Tulane for their first home match of the season on Saturday, Feb. 11.

LOSS, from page 9

Tigers are averaging 71.3 points per game in their last three losses compared to just 56.3 points per game in the first seven losses of the streak. Free throw shooting has been a major part of that as the Tigers have averaged 22.3 free throw attempts per game over the last three games.

Outside of the numbers, there seems to be an increased level of effort. After the game, Hayes and Fountain described that effort level as the team being “tired of losing.”

“We’re just tired of losing,” Fountain said. “We just came out to play hard, play harder, or whatever. But that’s just been our mindset, we’ve just been trying to stop the bleeding, stop the losing.”

RETOOLING, from page 9

That balance of youth and experience is what makes this team special, Torina says, thanks to the willingness of the team’s older players to help the newcomers.

“[Freshman infielder] McKaela Walker just joined the team a couple weeks ago, and I feel like I’ve barely coached her because Taylor’s been coaching her. I don’t even have to wonder what Taylor’s saying because Taylor’s using our words. Taylor’s out there telling the things we would’ve told her.”

LSU will face a challenging schedule this year as it normally does in a tough SEC, with an April 11 matchup against backto-back defending champion Oklahoma looming particularly large. For Torina and company, that’s exactly how they like it.

“We want to be challenged. We’ve never set out to play a perfect season, we’ve set out to be battle-tested at the end of every year so we can perform against whatever we see at the end of the season,” Torina said.

LSU now drops to 12-11 overall on the season and 1-9 in SEC play. The road in the SEC never gets much easier, and that will be true for LSU as it travels to Starkville to play Mississippi State in its next game. The Bulldogs aren’t quite a top five team like Alabama, but they are a team looking to prove itself to the selection committee with the NCAA Tournament inching closer.

For LSU, the Tigers are hoping to translate these improvements into a win and finally earn its first win in the year 2023. Many say there is no such thing as a moral victory and that was made clear by McMahon and his players postgame. However, a 30-point improvement against a team of Alabama’s caliber feels like a step in the right direction.

The Tigers begin the season ranked No. 20 in the ESPN/ USA Softball poll, while they are ranked No. 25 in the USA Today/ NFCA poll, voted on by coaches. In the SEC preseason poll voted on by the conference’s coaches, LSU was predicted to finish fifth in the conference, behind Flor- ida, Tennessee, Arkansas and Alabama.

As far as its expectations for itself, LSU is cautiously optimistic that this year will be the bounce back the program needs.

“This is a really special group. We have worked a long time, waited a long time to put this particular group together,” Torina said. “We have put the time into these girls, we have put the time into giving them at-bats, giving them opportunities, we’ve stuck with them. We’ve taken some lumps giving them this experience, but we have it now. We’re there. We’ve arrived at the spot where we wanted to be.”

Pleasants expressed similar confidence, saying, “we’re going to have great games, our fans are going to be very involved, it’s going to be a good atmosphere to be in. I’m just excited to get it started.”

LSU’s season begins soon, as it will host the LSU Invitational from Feb. 10-12, facing New Mexico and a ranked Oregon State team twice each before closing the tournament against Nicholls State.