Walked Off in Baton Rouge: Is Beth Torina’s Tenure at LSU Softball in Jeopardy?
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning, Southeastern Louisiana pulled off the most shocking upset of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
The Lions eliminated No. 10 national seed LSU on the home turf, beating them twice in three games.
With the disappointing early exit, LSU will extend its Women's College World Series drought another year. The Tigers haven't been to Oklahoma City since 2017 and have now been eliminated in Regionals twice in the last three years by in-state rivals. Louisiana eliminated LSU in 2023.
Is it time for Beth Torina to go? Perhaps, it might be. The program has been stagnant for seven years (excluding the 2020 COVID-shortened season).
Torina took over the LSU program in June 2011. She took the Tigers to the Women’s College World Series in 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2017. However, they have never played for a national championship.
In two games against Southeastern, Rick Fremin out-coached his in-state foe. LSU tried to out-slug the Lions under analytics-based hitting coach Bryce Neal, but chaos on the base paths and pressure on the defense forced LSU into poor decision-making. The Tigers never led after the top of the first inning on Saturday night.
The best LSU has done at the WCWS in Torina's tenure was third in 2014 and 2016, but for LSU fans, that isn't good enough. They are hungry for a title and they are tired of waiting.
With softball's growth in popularity, it might be time for LSU to make a serious move and hire a new coach and maybe, just maybe, he was in the opposing dugout leading his team to a Regional final on Sunday against Nebraska.
Beth Torina is a joke.
— Casey Gisclair (@casey_gisclair) May 18, 2025
Mainieri without the ring.
If she is employed on Monday, Scott Woodward is not serious about the sport.
That she is still here today in 2025 sort of implies that he is not serious about the sport as-is.
so yeah LSU needs to can Beth Torina. She’s plateaued and it’s time for change
— Hausen (Muffalotta Enjoyer) (@Hausen915) May 18, 2025
Beth Torina shouldn’t have a job past 9 pm.
— JMG (@LSU_Tiger_Bait) May 18, 2025
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-1d7db99dccc9abef7b9378f016b22b68.webp "Maren Angus-Coombs")
Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. She has been covering college softball since 2016 for various outlets including Softball America, ESPNW and Hurrdat Sports. She is currently the managing editor of Softball On SI and also serves as an analyst for Nebraska softball games on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+.