Staff writer
BATON ROUGE — Winners of eight of their last 11 games, the Louisiana Tech softball team will head south today for a pair of midweek non-conference contests starting with tonight’s match-up against 15th-ranked LSU
First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Tiger Park and can be seen on SEC Network+ with the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame duo of Lyn Rollins and Yvette Girouard calling the action. The contest was originally scheduled for earlier in the season but was postponed until early April due to weather.
Tech will then turn around and play McNeese State Wednesday night in Lake Charles. First pitch for that contest is at 6 p.m.
“We are looking forward to traveling to play two really good opponents this week,” said Tech coach Bianca Duran. “We had a great opening weekend in league play and I was proud of the fight our team showed. With us not having a league series this coming weekend, these two games will be great opportunities for us to continue to get better against some good competition.”
The Lady Techsters are coming off their Conference USA opening weekend in which they won three out of four games, all three wins coming in dramatic fashion.
Tech (13-14) was tied or trailed heading into the seventh inning in all three victories, but scored 11 runs in the its final at bat in the three victories.
The Lady Techsters are led offensively by Brooke Diaz (.314, 2 HR, 7 RBI), Amanda Gonzalez (.310, 9 runs, 4-4 SB), KB Briley (.279, 8 RBIs), Zoe Hicks (.279, 15 runs), Tristin Court (.271, 4 doubles, 10 RBI) and Madie Green (.270, 2 HR, 12 RBIs).
After starting the season just 1-of-23 at the plate, Gonzalez is 12 of her last 19 during her eight-game hitting streak, raising her batting average by more than .250 points during that streak. Briley had a solid weekend in San Antonio, recording a team high seven hits in the four games against the Roadrunners.
Bre Hernandez (6-4, 3.76 ERA) and Audrey Pickett (4-6, 3.99 ERA) are Tech’s top two arms in the circle.
The Lady Techsters started the season 5-11 but won eight of the last 11, including series wins over Memphis, Tulsa and UTSA and a midweek homefield win over Northwestern State, which had a nine-game win streak.
LSU (21-12) is coming off a weekend that saw the Tigers win two out of three against Ole Miss.
Taylor Pleasants (.333, 6 HR, 27 RBI), Ailyah Andrews (.330, 17-18 SB), Ciara Briggs (.300, 12 runs) and Amanda Doyle (.279, 7 HR, 27 RBI) are the offensive leaders for the Tigers.
In the circle, the Tigers are led by Ali Kilponen (7-4, 1.78 ERA) and Shelbi Sunseri (6-4, 1.89 ERA).
LSU leads the all-time series 23-4, including 22 straight victories in the series.