BATON ROUGE – The LSU softball team began its prep for the 2021 season on Friday afternoon in Tiger Park.

“Day one is always full of excitement,” said head coach Beth Torina. “It’s all the emotions rolled into one. And this year means a little bit more. Every pitch, every hit, every play, we are going to make it count.”

Over the course of the last couple months, the Tigers engaged in strength and conditioning workouts, individual and team practices and competed in many scrimmages within the team.

The team started out Friday’s practice in three different groups – a lifting group, a defense group and a hitting group. They rotated to the different areas throughout the practice, working on various drills.

LSU returns 21 players from the 2020 season that was shortened due to the pandemic. The Tigers finished last season with a 21-3 overall record. Sophomore Georgia Clark led the Tigers at the plate with a .425 batting average and four home runs last season. All-SEC performer Aliyah Andrews and All-American Shelbi Sunserialso return for the Tigers.

The Tigers will have their entire pitching staff back in Sunseri, Maribeth Gorsuch, Shelby Wickersham, Ali Kilponen, Taylor Edwards and Victoria Abrams. The staff finished with the best ERA in the country at 0.95. Wickersham led the team with the second best ERA in the nation at 0.40.

The Tigers added eight new freshman to the squad and will look to second year players in Taylor Pleasants, Ciara Briggs and Raeleen Gutierrez, who all made a significant impact in just a short amount of time last season.

A 2021 schedule is still being determined and will be posted once it becomes available.

For all of the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball along with @lsusoftball and @BethTorina on Twitter and @lsusoftball on Instagram.