A look back at 2019
The LSU Tigers finished the 2019 season with a 43-19 overall record, including a 14-10 showing in SEC play. The Tigers performed stellarly at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge, going 29-9 at home, though they finished just 11-7 in road games and 3-3 in netural-site contests.
During the non-conference portion of the season, the Tigers won seven straight games to begin the year, including a victory over Oklahoma State. Other non-conference highlights included wins over Texas, Ohio State, Michigan (twice), along with a best-two-out-of-three series win over Baylor later in the year. The Tigers also dropped a fair number of games in the early portion of the season, losing to Oregon, Florida State, Stanford, and Indiana.
When they reached conference play, the Tigers won six straight conference series’, including series wins over Florida, South Carolina, and Kentucky at home, and Texas A&M, Georgia, and Mississippi State on the road. After dropping the series to Arkansas – a weekend of games that included a run-rule loss to the Razorbacks – the Tigers hosted Alabama and were swept through the 3-game set, being outscored by the Crimson Tide 16-4 in the series.
In the SEC tournament, the Tigers earned the #3-overall seed, which included a bye into the tournament’s quarterfinals. There, the Tigers dropped their first game, losing a 3-0 shutout against eventual tournament champion Florida.
Earning the 10th-overall seed in the NCAA tournament, the Tigers hosted a regional that included Texas Tech; Louisiana Tech; and Monmouth. After winning the first two games of the regional round, over Monmouth and Texas Tech, the Tigers dropped the first game of the regional final to the Red Raiders, forcing a winner-take-all final game, which they won with a hearty 5-1 final score.
Paired up with #7-seeded Minnesota in the Super Regional round, the Tiger bats never really got going in Minneapolis, losing back-to-back games against Amber Fiser to see their season come to an end.
Roster turnover
Departures: The Tigers lost a fairly hearty senior class, one that included five primary starters. Former transfers catcher Michaela Schlattman and third baseman Amanda Sanchez saw their brief Tigers tenures close, while starting outfielder Elyse Thornhill; shortstop Amber Serrett; and second baseman Shemiah Sanchez also earned their cap and gown. 2018 starter Becca Schulte – with a redshirt senior season remaining – entered the transfer portal late in the fall and joined the Houston Cougars.
Additions: Boasting a roster of twenty-three players, the Tigers took on no transfers this offseason, but did welcome in a 7-member freshman class that includes players from Louisiana, Texas, and California.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths – The Tigers’ biggest area of mystery going into 2019, the pitching staff, is now arguably one of their bigger strengths, with a 100% retention rate of the players who saw the circle a season ago. One of those pitchers, Shelbi Sunseri, also saw a breakout season at the plate last year, and now enters 2020 as a respected bat in the middle of the lineup. Although they lost a lot of offensive pieces, the Tigers do return leading hitter Aliyah Andrews, whose .358 average paced the team a season ago.
Weaknesses – Losing five starters is not an easy task to overcome, and the Tigers will have to do so a year after their offensive woes plagued them throughout the season and ultimately led to their early departure from the postseason. The Bayou Bengals need an offensive push, and will have to find that surge while also presenting a mostly new-look lineup. In addition, while the pitching staff returns en masse, the Tigers need some consistency in the circle and really need someone to step into the role of a true ace.
2020 outlook
Pitching – Shelby Wickersham led the team in ERA, while Shelbi Sunseri paced the squad in innings pitched & strikeouts and Maribeth Gorsuch had the staff-best opponent’s batting average. The Tigers went by committee in the circle last season, and maximized their results fairly well through the course of the year. Things weren’t without their challenges, but the trio took on the lion’s share of the workload and kept their team in the ballgame. All three are capable pitchers, if not superstars, and the pitching circle might be the team’s most valuable commodity this season as they seek to make another run in the postseason.
Offense – 2019 ended with the graduation of 3/4 of the Tigers’ starting infield from a year ago, as well as the starting catcher and corner outfielder. The Tigers struggled offensively last season; there’s no way around that. Despite a .303 batting average and seventy-four home runs, the team’s offensive attack simply failed to come together and show up at times, including in the Super Regional, when three hits by Shemiah Sanchez, a home run by Amber Serrett, and a single by Amanda Sanchez accounted for nearly all of the Tigers’ offensive highlights while in Minneapolis. And two of those three players are now departed.
Coaching – Since taking over in Baton Rouge, Beth Torina has left absolutely no doubt about her status as one of the game’s best coaches, keeping the Tigers at the forefront of the postseason championship discussion year-in and year-out. Many expected the 2019 season to be a challenge for the squad, although the pitching staff – Torina’s specialty – actually took many by surprise. Torina’s coaching staff includes Howard Dobson, who is committed to Team USA for the spring, as well as Lindsey Leftwich and volunteer assistant Sandra Simmons.
Wrap-up
A year off of losing the legendary pair of Hoover and Walljasper to graduation, the Tigers were facing something of an uphill battle in 2019. The pitching staff defied expectations, turning in a quality campaign through the staff as a whole and continuing the program’s reputation of that department being a bonafide strength. 2020 will be a true test, as there’s no element of surprise to work to the team’s advantage, but expect more solid performances out of the staff this season. The offense needs a spark plug, which could be Aliyah Andrews, but she’s going to need to help from the rest of the order if Women’s College World Series hopes are to be fulfilled once-again in Baton Rouge.
