The Latest News on No. 3 LSU Softball: Injury Update, Series Against Kentucky, and More

The LSU Softball program has concluded their non conference slate to open their season by sweeping the Purple & Gold Challenge at Tiger Park. They defeated Illinois, Louisiana Tech and both San Diego State and McNeese twice. Uncharacteristically though, they did it more with pitching and elite defense mixed with some timely hitting. As compared to the offensive onslaught we have grown accustomed to in this young season.

The No.3 ranked Lady Tigers will travel to Lexington to begin SEC play as they prepare for a cat fight against the No. 21/23 Kentucky Wildcats. The Wildcats have a record of (13-4). Do not let the four losses fool you as the Wildcats have 2 close wins against No. 10 Stanford. One of their losses came to ranked opponents in Top 5 Washington and San Diego State who at the time was Top 25 , this was prior to suffering two losses to LSU. The Tigers however did suffer a crucial injury to starting third baseman Danieca Coffey that will be season ending per Head Coach Beth Torina . The senior from Richwood, Texas was off to a stellar start where she was batting .404 with three doubles, two triples and two homeruns with with eleven RBIs and two stolen bases.

Freshman Maddox McKee has been playing in place of Coffey and has made a number of great defensive plays and has answered the call. McKee is one of the elite Freshman making an impact as Sierra Daniel has been filling in for the injured Karli Petty. Daniel has proven to also bring a big bat as she is batting .423 with 10 runs scored in only 26 at bats. Both of these two dynamic freshman came in highly touted with McKee being a Top 20 overall player and Daniel being ranked inside the Top Nationally. You are looking at the future of the LSU infield for years to come so get used to seeing them.

Offensively LSU is being led by a three-headed juggernaut in Taylor Pleasants, Raeleen Gutierrez and Ali Newland. All three are batting above .380 and have combined for 12 homeruns with each and a staggering 66 RBIs. The pitching staff has been led by All-American Sydney Berzon who is (6-0) with a 1.98 ERA with 3 saves. In 46.0 innings pitched she has struck 53 while only walking 5. Raelin Chaffin in my opinion has looked the best after Berzon. Chaffin is also (6-0) while with a 1.89 ERA with 1 save. In 37.0 innings pitched she has innings she has struck out 35 batters. Kelly Lynch who is (3-0) is coming off of her best game of the year against La Tech where she struck out 7 and only walked 1 in a complete game performance.

The Wildcats pack a heavy punch offensively as Erin Coffel is tied for 1st in the SEC for homeruns with 7 and Peyton Plotts is tied for 1st in the SEC in slugging at 1.000. Their lone player batting .400 is Rylea Smith. On the Mound their go to pitcher is Stephanie Schoonover with and (8-1) record and 1.19 ERA with 63 strikeouts. Overall their staff has struck out 148 and walked 50 batters in 116 innings and teams are hitting .208 against them. While the LSU staff is allowing .188 batting average against them.

Friday will be a 5:30 pm CT start and the game will be on SEC Network+ with Saturday and Sunday contest both beginning at 11am CT SEC Network. With the beginning of SEC play, fans can now hear LSU softball games on the LSU Sports Radio Network, beginning March 8-10 when No. 3 LSU travels to No. 21/23 Kentucky for a three-game series in Lexington, Ky.  


Softball Games Live on LSU Sports Radio Network

The LSU Sports Radio Network will broadcast the final 33 games of the regular season and continue coverage throughout postseason play. Free live-streaming audio is available on LSUsports.net along with the LSU Sports Mobile App. Friday, March 8, will be the first radio broadcast of the 2024 season, with Garret Walvoord calling the game on 107.3 FM, starting with the pregame show at 5:15 p.m. CT. Friday’s game will also be streamed by Guaranty here.    


For the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can follow the team on its social media outlets at www.facebook.com/lsusoftball and @lsusoftball on Instagram and X.