I'm not sure what Coach Clint Myers will find to criticize during practice this week, but he will have to look hard to find many faults in the Tigers opening weekend tournament performance. If you like to see good pitching and defense combined with explosive offense, this was your weekend. Unless you were a fan of the visiting teams.
In the circle, the Tigers' pitching staff held steady recording 3 shutouts in the 5 games of the tournament. When they did allow a run to score, it was typical after the game was well in hand. That speaks very well to their consistency as does the 1.87 ERA the staff posted throughout the weekend. With these kinds of outings and numbers, the Tigers are in great position to gain confidence and chemistry before playing some of the more difficult teams on their schedule.
Turning to the offense, what a great weekend that was had by the Tigers' hitters. The team set a new record for runs scored in their first six games with 67 which is two better than the 65 the team posted last year under Myers. Redshirt sophomore Haley Fagan certainly did her part in that record leading the team in HRs with 3 and RBIs with 12. Not to be outdone by much was the powerful display by Emily Carosone blasting a GrandSlam on the way to a 9 for 14 (.643) weekend performance.
The team returns to play on Thursday to begin the Tiger Invitational against Mercer at 4pm. The game can be seen on SEC Network +. The Invitational will include Georgia St., Ball St., Eastern Illinois, and Winthrop as well.