The SEC is used to having teams ranked No. 1 nationally in the majority of athletic events across the country. One of these sports is softball, where the LSU Tigers (36-4, 9-3 SEC) hold down the overall top ranking in the NCAA.
These are the same Tigers that will be visiting Lee Stadium this weekend for a three-game series against the Lady Vols (29-9, 7-5 SEC).
“Offense has been our strength, and, when we’re hitting and having good, quality at-bats and stringing those together, we’re doing pretty well,” co-head coach Karen Weekly said. “I think our kids will be very up for this weekend’s games and pretty locked in.”
LSU’s pitching staff is one of the best in the country. As of April 6, the Tigers had the second lowest ERA in Division 1 softball with a 1.37 earned run average.
If they aren’t shutting opponents out on the mound, the Tigers and Bianka Bell are blasting them out of the park with steady hitting. Bell’s stats this year seem to jump off the page, as the Tampa, Florida, native is batting a hefty .512 this year, an average that places her fifth in the NCAA.
Thanks to Bell and Bailey Landry, who is batting .484 herself, the Tigers have propelled themselves to the sixth-best batting team by average in the country.
Junior starting pitcher Gretchen Aucoin said that her team doesn’t feel any pressure with the Tigers’ hot bats coming to town.
“(We’ll succeed) if we come out, including myself, and pitch our game, and do what we know we can do best,” Aucoin said. “With our bats, if we get them going hot too, we’ll be up there competing with them, as well.”
Fans will get a special treat at Saturday’s 5 p.m. game against the Tigers. Not only will the game be broadcast on ESPN, but fans will also get the chance to see new men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes throw out the first pitch of the game.
“When I reached out to him to do that, he was more than willing. He said that he’d be honored to come out, and I just think that’s really exciting that he’s here and he’s our basketball coach,” Weekly said about Barnes. “I think it just speaks volumes about how he feels about all of our sports and how he feels about Tennessee.”
The Lady Vols will open the series with LSU this Friday at 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on ESPN at 5 p.m. Sunday’s series finale will begin at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on the SEC Network +.
