LSU softball earns home regional

• By WILLIAM WEATHERS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 12, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 1 a.m.

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There was a hint of celebration in the air Sunday evening when the LSU softball team received its 10th invitation to the NCAA regional tournament.

Helping to make the mood a little more festive was the fact the Tigers will be staying home to enjoy it all.

“It’s definitely a privilege to be at home,” LSU senior and tri-captain Dee Dee Henderson said. “We’re comfortable playing at home. It’s not like we have to adjust to a different field and atmosphere. We know our fans are going to be there to support us. As a senior, you love to play at home.”

Although LSU didn’t factor into either the Southeastern Conference’s regular season or postseason championship equation, the Tigers were certainly the beneficiary of the league’s overall strength.

LSU (42-16) earned an at-large berth and the tournament’s No. 9 overall seed, but will serve as the top-seeded team when the Tigers face fourth-seeded Mississippi Valley State (28-26) — the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament champion.

The rest of the four-team field that is set for competition at LSU’s Tiger Park will be second-seeded University of Louisiana at Lafayette (46-12) — regular season and postseason champions of the Sun Belt Conference tournament — meeting East Carolina (36-28) an at-large selection from Conference USA.

Action in the double-elimination tournament begins Friday, continues Saturday and concludes Sunday. Game times are expected to be released today.

“I’m very pleased,” LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard said. “There was no question we were very disappointed in what happened last year and it was a very hard road to haul for a team that won something. Really, we didn’t win anything this year. But we’ve put ourselves in a position to stay home and get out of Baton Rouge and try and advance to the college World Series.”

The winner of the Baton Rouge regional is matched with the winner of the Houston regional, where the host Cougars are seeded eighth and would also host the super regional.

UL-Lafayette received its 10th consecutive NCAA regional bid and 18th overall. The Ragin’ Cajuns will make their third appearance in Baton Rouge and first since 2006, where they lost a pair of hard-fought 7-6 game in 10 innings and another 5-4 decision to the Tigers.

“We wanted to host a regional, but the next best thing is being 45 minutes away,” UL-Lafayette co-head coach Michael Lotief said.
“We have our work cut out for us in this regional. This won’t make a good story line for the papers, but all of our focus now is on LSU.

“I’m happy for our fans, I’m happy for the sport of softball,” Lotief said. “The last time we played there was a lot of passion from all the teams in the tournament. I think (LSU) is deserving of hosting a regional. Their RPI is better than ours and they have been ranked higher than us. This will be a great opportunity for us and great for the sport of softball in Louisiana.”

LSU and UL-Lafayette, which need first-round wins to meet in Saturday’s semifinal, have not met since the 2006 NCAA regional.
Adding further intrigue to a potential matchup is the fact that current senior second baseman Vanessa Soto spent the first three years of her career at LSU before transferring over the summer.