Beth Torina describes LSU's confidence at SEC Softball Tournament

LSU is in the midst of its second game at the SEC Softball Tournament but has already had a couple of long days. On Thursday, a 14-inning game against Alabama took place, the longest in event history. And then weather delayed first pitch against Tennessee by nearly eight hours on Friday, causing for a lot of waiting around.

Even so, head coach Beth Torina sees a confident and relaxed team. When speaking to ESPN’s Alyssa Lang heading into the top of the fourth inning, the LSU dugout was dancing around to the Spice Girls with a 1-0 lead on the one-seed Volunteers.

Being frustrated due to long games and delays would be easy but Torina knows they are all happy to still be playing softball on the Plains.

“They’ve been up all day,” Torina said. “They’re ready, they’re excited. They’ve been excited about this tournament for a while. I think they felt like this was their chance to gain some momentum and just be who they are. I think they’ve done a great job of that.”

Torina decided to put Kelley Lynch in the circle against Tennesse, hoping for a great performance. We certainly saw one from Sydney Berzon on Thursday, pitching all 14 innings while just allowing eight hits and two earned runs.

Lynch is producing similar results thus far, keeping Tennessee scoreless through three. Not many base runners for the Lady Vols either, having just one hit and walking twice.

“I think Kelly is a good matchup today,” Torina said. “She’s such a great competitor. The day we got Kelly Lynch was a great day for this program, we’re lucky to have her.”

An SEC Softball Tournament championship has not come back to Baton Rouge since 2007. LSU is a proud program with multiple Women’s College World Series appearances on the resume. Adding more hardware would give the Tigers a ton of momentum on the journey to Oklahoma City.

Taking care of business against Tennessee is the first priority. Torina certainly believes in Lynch, thinking she can handle a tricky Tennessee lineup. If the offense can add a few more runs, the job inside the circle will only get easier.

You would think a one-run lead would have nerves building up in the LSU dugout. Instead, they are up and dancing, having a lot of fun. Exactly what you like to see this time of year during stressful postseason games.