BATON ROUGE - The No. 14 LSU softball team wraps up a critical SEC week as Auburn visits Tiger Park for a weekend series. Both Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's single game get underway at 1 p.m.
LSU (23-4, 5-0 SEC) has pieced together 18 consecutive victories, the longest streak in head coach Yvette Girouard's tenure. The Tigers also welcome back 25 former players highlighted by former All-Americans Leslie Klein and Kristin Schmidt as part of Alumnae Weekend.
"We've designated the first SEC home weekend for the last two years as Alumnae Weekend and want to make sure that our former players always feel welcome at Tiger Park," Girouard said. "While they didn't have a chance to play in our beautiful new facility, they're a big part of our legacy. We don't ever want to forget about their contributions to the LSU softball program."
LSU is coming off a two-game sweep of Ole Miss to move to 5-0 in SEC play for the second time in the Girouard era. The Tigers posted an 8-0 mark during the 2008 season.
Auburn (16-9, 2-3 SEC) picked up a 1-0 nine-inning victory Thursday at No. 19 Florida State to regroup from a Wednesday sweep at No. 6 Florida. Amber Harrison fuels the Auburn offense and has garnered a .333 batting average to go along with 22 RBIs. In the circle, Anna Thompson is 7-4 with a 0.80 ERA.
"We'll have our hands full with Auburn," Girouard said. "Thompson has the most strikeouts in the SEC and is one of the premier pitchers in the nation. We have to stay focused with our at-bats and swing at strikes to be successful this weekend."
Kirsten Shortridge continued her offensive assault from the top of the batting order and has hit safely in 16 of her last 17 games. She has tallied 11 multi-hit efforts and pushed her average to .432 during the stretch.
Shortridge also has posted a 25-for-27 mark in the stolen base department and has swiped bases in seven of her last 10 outings. The Keller, Texas product is one steal away from matching her 2009 total and equaling LaDonia Hughes for seventh place in program history.
Ashley Applegate, Courtney Hollier, Ashley Langoni and Rachel Mitchell check in with a .300 hitting clip or better. Mitchell has racked up 12 of her 18 RBIs during her last 11 games, while Hollier has tallied all 14 of her RBIs during LSU's 18-game streak.
Morgan Russell has chipped in six RBIs in her last eight outings, including a textbook suicide squeeze in the first game against Ole Miss.
The LSU pitching staff continues to register impressive performance after impressive performance in the circle. The Tigers have tossed 10 shutouts and sport a SEC-leading 0.82 team ERA. LSU's three-headed monster of Cody Trahan, Brittany Mack and Rachele Fico continue to rank inside the SEC's Top 6 in ERA.
Trahan recorded six strikeouts in six innings to set the tone in the opening game against Ole Miss to improve to 7-0 on the season, while Fico notched her eighth consecutive win with 2.2 frames of one-hit relief to close out a 2-1 triumph during game two.
The LSU defense also has compiled a sparking .981 fielding percentage and committed only nine errors during the 18-game streak.
"Our plan is to stay with what's got us to where we are in the circle," Girouard said. "The luxury we have is that we can always go to the bullpen for help if someone gets in trouble. I like the way our pitchers have attacked the [opposing] hitters, and we need to continue that philosophy to control the circle."
Live stats for all three games of the Auburn series are available in the Geaux Zone on LSUSports.net along with live in-game updates via www.twitter.com/lsu_softball.
