Softball

The Lady Tigers are a complete team. I enjoy watching their games. The SEC will be a very tough road but they now have the pitching, hitting, and defense to compete against the best in the country. They generally start off very, very well but this 2025 version just looks and feels different. We'll see. Geaux Lady Tigers! They look legit.

I’ve been watching every game! (At least all that are available)

Even if I have pull it up on the ESPN app after the fact to watch.

They are damn good!

Bergeron, Coffey, Hodge and Edwards are having all American seasons and the rest of the starters are hitting above .300. If Heavener continues lighting up the strike zone, something she’s struggled doing at times this year, this team will be difficult to beat.

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. If Heavener continues to lighting up the strike zone, something she’s struggled doing at times this year, this team will be difficult to beat.

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She been good so far but at times has struggled with her control but maybe that’s just part of being a freshman.

We have watched every game, minus the ones that weren't available a few weekends back. This team looks and plays much better than any recent one that I recall. The pitching depth will help us get through situations we ran into last postseason.

The current pitching situation:
Syd Berzon - all-American, skilled, consistent
Jayden Heavener - super talented, great pitches, needs to sustain control through the innings
Tatum Clopton - consistent, good pitches
Ashley Vallejo - inconsistent at times, but when in a rhythm, will get you through innings
Emilee Casanova - has struggled at the mound this season but has shown the ability to get it done

If we can get Ashley and Emilee to be a little more consistent, our pitching will be one of the best in the country. Aside from that, our hitting and fielding have been top-notch. Maci and Tori have been hitting bombs when it matters this season, and the ability of the rest of the team to get on base has been exceptional.

I am sure some nega-tiger will reply to complain and whine, but we are seeing really good softball in Baton Rouge right now.

The biggest problem with last years team was their hitting. The highest batting average for the every day starter was Briggs at .333. Pleasants was a shell of herself. Thankfully her defense didn’t drop off like her bat did. On this years team, Lassiter has the lowest BA of the every day starters and she’s at .322.

No one wants players to get injured but having Coffey on the team this year vs it being her last season on last years team has been a much greater benefit this year. She sets the stage for this team offensively.

Try subscribing to The Advocate because you would have seen terrific coverage of the team by Jim Kleinpeter that you get anywhere else.

SHARING A POST FROM ANOTHER POSTER ON SATURDAY AND MY RESPONSE THIS MORNING. PERFECT FOR THIS CHAIN:

Quoted from "TigerAlumn" before Sunday's game:
Not quite ready to make the grandiose statement of "Beth Rul[ing]", but I've always said she's a solid coach regardless of the off-with-her-head proponents of the Forums. The team looks really good and real fans celebrate that, while the real fans who are realists also see and recognize the shortcomings and kinks in the armor. Love a lot of what I see but scratch my head on some of what I see as well but that is to be expected to some degree. As well as they've played up to this point--save for one California snakebite loss to Cal Fullerton--there are legitimate pessimistic-realist points just as there are some big time positives for optimist-realists.

BIG BRIGHT SPOTS are Berzon (as usual), Coffey (as expected), Edwards (huge lift), Bergeron (huge lift), Lassiter (rebounding to prior self), Redoutey (pretty steady).

I think another BRIGHT SPOT is Heavener despite some shaky moments: Fully expected her to reveal some freshman pitcher tendencies as she learns how to pitch in the SEC against more disciplined and opportunistic hitters, but she has responded well and rebounded well when facing adversity. She's gonna take her lumps but she will be key to the team's success during the regular season and for sure during the SEC Championship Tourney given the multiple games. Test will get tougher for her here on out but she's still looked great as a freshmen.

Hodge is a mixed bag but ultimately a positive add. Defensively she's been a stalworth. Offensively she's still on lower end of range but serviceable enough given she brings solid defense to the field. Batting average is extremely deceptive as she feasted on lower end pitching early and has also been credited with multiple hits when many/most would have ruled them reached on errors. She's also had a few mistake type hits as well--such as this past weekend when she stopped her bat half way but ball made contact and rolled past 3rd baseman and a few infield hits.

The good thing is they are still trying to figure out a few things it seems. Seems LF and DP is still up for grabs. No clue why LF is still a question but given they pulled Laneaux for a pinch hitter after a couple of strikeouts it would seem they haven't decided for sure. Seems to me that Laneaux has earned that spot and should be given the same grace others on the team have been after a few bad ABs which is part of the game..

DP position also seems up for grabs. No clue why they are still trying McKee out at DP--she is not a good hitter and nowhere near the best option. Think her average is in the .220s now and even that is a little bloated given several bunts she's had for hits and a couple of excuse-me hits where defenders weren't. Walker seemed like the favorite early on. Although she looks better than McKee she has struggled as well at the plate and may not be the answer this year. Manning seems to be the other option they are considering, and she's shown some positive signs and I like her size and pop. I know the staff isn't big on freshmen playing, but puzzled as to why they haven't tried the freshman Jones out or tried out the sophomore Bedell kid more than once. Jones was one of the most highly ranked freshmen in the country coming into the program and was known for her offensive prowess and showed it in team intrasquads. Bedell is another big kid who seems to have some pop but did see they had her at DP once before and she didn't fair too well. They did give Franklin a shot once but she didn't seem too comfortable at the plate.
Good thing is if they end up finding a solid DP and in my view leave Laneaux where she is they can be even better.

UGA is next up.and they will test the depth of our pitching but I think their pitching is lacking this season. South Carolina has looked solid (1-1 with UGA in their series as of Saturday) and will be a good test the next week although their pitching isn't the best either. I can see a Top 8 seed if the team can get through the Texas trip without a meltdown against TAMU and TX. Florida will be the other series that scares me a bit. Love where we are at so far though!! Looking forward to a sweep of a surprisingly scrappy Kentucky team today. [END OF QUOTE]


Great write up, Alumn!!! Sounds like you made the games this weekend. Hate I missed you!

Several of your comments revealed themselves in the last game too!! *Hodge had ANOTHER changed my mind single off the bat LoL, but looked good on defense.
*Coffey on base 3 times and Bergeron & Edwards both SMASHING! 3 HRs between them.
*They had Manning as DP and brought Peterson and Bedell in to hit--neither of them had good at bats with a strikeout and two popups.
*But they completed the sweep!!