The No. 14 LSU softball team is gearing up for a run through the final five weeks of Southeastern Conference play this season which will determine the team’s postseason fate.
The Tigers (31-6) start a three-game Easter weekend series with Missouri at home Thursday and then will get a true test when unanimous No. 1 Oklahoma comes to Tiger Park on Tuesday of next week.
LSU is on a seven-game winning streak after taking all five contests in the Purple and Gold Challenge.
LSU’s pitching carried it through the weekend, producing two shutouts and allowing six runs in five games on 23 hits, 4.6 per game. The defense was solid, playing error-free in the final four games.
The Tigers swung the bats effectively, allowing for a pair of mercy rule victories against BYU and North Carolina State on Friday.
Danieca Coffey, who has started every game at third base, led the way with a 7-for-12 weekend with six runs scored. She improved her team-leading batting average to .446 with a team-best 33 runs scored.
“Danieca Coffey has been leading us all year,” LSU coach Beth Torina said. “She’s such a special player. She’s a tough out at the plate. She’s got the short and power game. She has really led us all year long.”
First baseman Raeleen Gutierrez also had a big weekend as a run-producer with seven hits in 14 at-bats with six runs batted in, including her first home run Sunday and a pair of doubles earlier in the series. She raised her batting average to .337.
Centerfielder fielder Ciara Briggs had six hits and six RBIs and Georgia Clark hit two more homers giving her seven for the season. She drove in six runs for the series.
LSU showed some grit to open the series with a 3-2 victory. The Tigers held a 1-0 lead into the fifth inning when BYU took advantage of two errors to score two runs off freshman pitcher Sydney Berzon. But the Tigers responded with clutch hitting when Clark hit a two-out solo home run on a full-count pitch to tie the game.
In the sixth, Gutierrez led off with a walk, was sacrificed to second and went to third on a wild pitch. With two out, Savannah Stewart singled through the left side for the eventual winning run.
Berzon went seven innings and had nine strikeouts for her sixth complete game.
“Our team showed they can battle back and be resilient,” Torina said. “I think we were trying to play carefully and perfectly, and that’s a great way to lose ball games. Of all the things they do well, their fight is No. 1.”
The series opening victory started the momentum that carried through the weekend. The Tigers scored 22 runs on Friday and then responded again on Saturday against Louisiana Tech. When the visitors tied the game at 2 in the fourth inning, LSU responded with four runs in the bottom half. McKenzie Redoutey singled home a run, Stewart followed with a run-scoring triple and Briggs capped the inning with a two-run single.
Berzon finished off the Bulldogs with 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to improve her record to 11-2.
“We did a good job of making adjustments throughout,” Torina said. “We were able to change pitcher to pitcher and still create pressure. We did a good job getting the leadoff hitter on and scoring runs throughout the game.”
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