By Allison Covey (@allisoncovey):
San Jose State softball takes on undefeated LSU for the first meeting between the two teams Thursday afternoon at Bill Simoni Field in Stockton.
Ranked No. 7 by USA Today and National Fastpitch Coaches Association, the Tigers (10-0) are making their first trip out of Louisiana with six games in four days in Stockton and Cathedral City.
The Spartans (8-2) meanwhile face their toughest stretch of the season as they’ll see three nationally-ranked teams from the SEC and PAC-12 starting today and ending Sunday.
SJSU’s numbers have been impressive enough however to land them on the nation’s leaderboard.
Through 10 games, the Spartans rank fifth in the nation with 8.5 runs per game. They are also ranked 13th in the country in on-base percentage. It will be interesting because LSU is a top-five pitching team in the nation with a .51 team ERA.
Individually, sophomore infielder Cassidy Clark ranks as the 15th toughest batter to strike out with one strikeout per 30 at-bats.
Sophomore outfielder Kaelin Amrein is ranked third in on-base percentage as well as nationally-ranked for her batting average, walks and slugging.
With a .311 team batting average, LSU also has three batters hitting .400 or above, meaning SJSU’s pitching will be put to the test.
Amanda Boyle, Amber Serrett and Aliyah Andrews are hitting .429, .417 and .400, respectively.
Senior Tigers’ pitchers Allie Walljasper and Carley Hoover have a combined total of 59 strikeouts and each have three shutouts.
The Spartans are still trying to find their strong pitching. Last game against Iowa State, the Spartans used five different pitchers.
Despite not having one set pitcher for the team, freshman pitcher Caroline Bowman for SJSU ranks third in the nation with five wins.
First pitch is at 2:30 p.m.