Judy Ledet
May 14, 2007Jill Lyons
May 16, 2007
Despite being ranked fifth in the national polls and winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Saturday against Florida, the LSU softball team was selected as the No. 10 national seed in the 2006 NCAA Championships and will be forced to travel for the four-team regional to face Cal State Northridge, Stanford and Fresno State in Palo Alto, Calif., from Thursday through Saturday.
The Tigers (52-10) received the SEC’s automatic bid and will play Cal State Northridge (23-21-1), an at-large selection from the Big West Conference, in the first round of the double-elimination tournament on Thursday at 5 p.m.
If the Tigers were to win their regional, they are paired against the winner of the Provo, Utah Regional and would likely travel to Tempe, Ariz., to face seventh-seeded Arizona State if the Sun Devils advance out of their regional. The winner of that Super Regional would advance to the Women’s College World Series.
Last season, LSU won the Baton Rouge Regional, going undefeated in three games to advance to its first NCAA Super Regional. The Tigers then traveled to Tucson, Ariz., to face No. 1 ranked and No. 2 seed Arizona in the best-of-three series. After falling in game one, LSU came back to win game two but fell in the series final to the eventually national champion Wildcats.
This year, the Tigers were one of seven SEC schools that advanced to the NCAA Regional round, ranking just behind the Pac 10 for the most teams represented in the NCAA Tournament. Regular-season SEC champion Tennessee earned the fifth overall national seed, while Alabama earned the No. 11 national seed. In addition, Florida earned a No. 13 national seed, while Georgia, Mississippi State and South Carolina also earned berths in the tournament.
In the SEC Tournament played last Thursday to Saturday, LSU defeated South Carolina, 2-1, in 10 innings on Thursday and then beat Alabama, 4-1, on Friday and Florida in nine innings, 1-0.
Against South Carolina, Killian Roessner won the game for the Lady Tigers with a walk-off sacrifice fly. Dani Hofer go the complete-game win after allowing nine hits, one run and struck out nine. In the Alabama victory, Leslie Klein had a two-run double and Rachel Mitchell had a solo home run. In the circle, Emily Turner tossed a complete-game six-hitter. She allowed a run and struck out seven. In the championship, LSU was able to claim its fifth SEC title in the last 10 years as Turner and Hofer combined on the mound to hold Florida scoreless. Turner started the game and went the first 4.1 innings. Hofer, who improved to 23-2 with the victory, pitched the final 4.2 innings. Turner struck out five and allowed four hits, while Hofer allowed a hit and struck out nine. Klien registered the lone RBI in the game.
BASEBALL TEAM SALVAGES SERIES AGAINST FLORIDA
LSU rallied from a 4-3 deficit with a three-run fourth inning to salvage the series against Florida, which beat the Tigers 19-3 on Friday and 8-4 on Saturday.
On Sunday, T.J. Forrest blanked Florida for the final four innings during the 9-4 victory at Alex Box Stadium, which was the final home game of the season. With the win LSU improved to 29-23-1 overall and 12-14-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
Currently, the Tigers are in a tie with Kentucky for eighth place in the overall SEC standings. The top eight teams qualify for the post-season SEC Tournament, which starts May 23 in Hoover, Ala.
LSU ends the regular season with three games at Vanderbilt, which sits in first place in the SEC East, Thursday (7 p.m.), Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (noon).
On Sunday, Ryan Byrd (6-1) got the win after allowing four runs, seven hits and three walks in five innings. Forrest tallied his first save of the season by allowing two hits and struck out four in four innings of work.
The Tigers got off to a 3-0 lead on RBIs by Blake Dean, Buzzy Haydel and Sean Ochinko.
After Florida threatened to sweep after taking a 4-3 lead, Chris McGhee tied the game with an RBI single. On the play, J.T. Wise scored on a error. Nicholas Pontiff followed with a run-scoring single, which was his sixth hit of the series. Jared Mitchell added a two-out, two-run double in the sixth for some insurance.
On Friday, LSU was limited to eight hits with Pontiff getting three of them. Pontiff, Michael Hollander and Ochinko each had RBIs in the contest. On Saturday, the Tigers fell behind 7-0, but managed four runs in the eighth inning to get back into the game. Hollander and Ochinko each had two hits, but Mitchell, Ochinko, Dean and Hollander each registered an RBI in the contest.
TIGER TOUR COMING TO TRI-PARISH AREA ON JUNE 14
The annual TAF LSU Tiger Tour will be coming to the tri-parish area on June 14. This year’s event will be held at the Morgan City Auditorium. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the event will officially begin at 7 p.m. Scheduled to appear at the event are head football coach Les Miles, head men’s basketball coach John Brady and new head women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor.
Individual tickets are $50 per person, but eight-person tables can be purchased for $350, $1,000 or $2,500. There will be a cash bar and a dinner buffet at the event as well as a silent auction by the TAF (Tiger Athletic Foundation). The LSU Alumni Association will have merchandise on sale and there will also be door prizes awarded by the TAF. For more information, call Craig Bennett at (985) 312-4967.
LADY TIGERS WIN SEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP
The LSU women’s track and field team won its first SEC Outdoor Championship since 1996 while the men finished second. Along the way, seven LSU athletes won individual champions including Trindon Holliday, who broke Xavier Carter’s school record in the 100-meter dash (10.08).
