Although being heated rivals, these two teams have not played each other this season.
SCHEDULE
▪️ Friday, May 22 – 6pm/7pm – ESPN2
▪️ Saturday, May 23 – 2pm/3pm – ESPN
▪️ (if necessary) Sunday, May 24 – TBD
HOW TO WATCH… ALLEGEDLY
ESPN and ESPN2, as well as ESPN+ Streaming. Game times and networks could change depending on the weather.
Eric Frede will do play-by-play. Former Vol Madison Shipman is on color commentary.
WEATHER
RUT-ROH! Wet stuff is expected throughout the weekend.
LSU (40-17, 13-11 SEC)
The Tigers opened their season with a 6-game sweep at home against
some rather blah competition. Following that span, LSU headed to Clearwater for a tournament and lost four out of five to Nebraska, Duke, Center Florida, and UCLA. The one saving grace was a 9-4 win over Oklahoma State. The Bayou Bengals won the rest of their pre-SEC schedule, but nobody worth mentioning.
To begin SEC play, the Vols swept LSU in Knoxville. TAMU took 2 of 3 in Baton Rouge. Back on the road, Los Tigres won 2 of 3 over South Carolina. Next, was Oklahoma visiting with the Sooners winning 2 of 3. LSU mimicked Bama by winning 2 against Mizzou. For their mid-season dumb Vanderbilt series, LSU beat Arizona twice in BR. That was followed by a sweep of Ole Miss and losing a pair to MSU. The finale was a sweep of Auburn.
The Cajun Tigers got the SEC Tournament out of the way pretty quickly by losing to Georgia in the first round. In their Regional, Louisiana State had no problems with Akron and Virginia Tech (twice). They outscored their opponents 23-2 in the three games.
THROW THE BALL
The loss of Sydney Berzon to Oklahoma was a big blow for LSU (although Berzon probably regrets it, now as the seldom used third pitching option in Norman). Jayden Heavener (13-8, 2.75 ERA) has become the ace of this staff as a sophomore. She is regularly handed the ball in big games and pitched two and sometimes three times in a series. Although being the go-to pitcher, the left-hander can be wildly inconsistent.
Cece Cellura (former San Diego State ace) and Paytn Monticelli (seldom used at Oklahoma) joined the Tigers via the transfer portal and have filled in the No. 2 and No. 2a spots in the rotation. Cellura is 9-5 with a 3.12 ERA. She has not had much success against SEC foes. Monticelli is 9-3 with a 2.40 ERA. She struggled early in the season, but has come on stronger as of late.
Each of these three pitchers had a complete game win in the Regional sweep.
TL/DR: Team ERA is 2.65, good for sixth overall in the conference but 3.47 (8th best) against SEC opposition. They are middle of the road in most SEC pitching stats.
HIT THE BALL
Shortstop Kylee Edwards transferred in from Mississippi State and has had a fine season, hitting .349 with 10 homers and 40 RBI. The No. 3 hitter has struck out only 10 times and has a .440 OB% and .628 slugging. CF Jalia Lassiter leads off and has scored 61 runs. Her BA stands at .348 to go with 9 dingers and 40 RBI. She gets on base at a .463 rate. 1B Tori Edwards is hitting .287 but leads the team with 12 round-trippers and 44 runs knocked in. However, she has struck out 36 times – 8th most of SEC players in overall games – and 20 times against SEC pitching, 4th most.
TL/DR: Against SEC pitching, team batting is .282, slugging is .468, OB% is .386 – all sixth in the conference. However, they score the fourth most runs per game (5.6 RPG SEC). On the downside, they strike out second most after Ole Miss.
CATCH THE BALL
Again, LSU is middle of the pack in fielding with a .976 percentage.
HOT HEAD
Beth Torina is back for her 15th season at the helm of the LSU softball. She has led the Tigers to four WCWS, but none since 2017. Her teams have never missed the post-season, nor have they ever had a losing conference record. [SIDE NOTE: You may recall Torina was the second choice in Red Stick after a certain coach left Alabama for LSU but then changed his mind a few days later and returned to Tuscaloosa only to win a WCWS this next season.]
TEN CENT ANALYSIS
The Crimson Tide pitching staff is among the best in the nation. The offense has been like a box of chocolates late in the season. However, several Bama players look locked in at the dish. LSU finished the regular season strong and dominated their Regional. But they are also good for a clunker like they did vs UGA in the SEC Tournament (L, 3-7). Additionally, they are 5-7 in SEC road games. All signs point to Alabama winning this series in two games, but you never know in the SEC.
