The LSU softball team lost their series opener against Tennessee on April 19, but freshman Madyson Manning had wonderful news to share with her parents before going to bed that night.
Manning worked hard in practice and supported her teammates from the dugout for 2½ months and 46 games this season. Manning, a West Monroe native and the nation’s No. 29 recruit according to Extra Innings Softball, was pleased to redshirt this season on a veteran club ranked in the top ten.
That was until Torina approached her after the Tennessee loss and offered her the opportunity to play in the next game on Saturday, giving the Tigers another option to solve their merry-go-round at third base following Danieca Coffey’s season-ending knee injury.
“I really didn’t ask my parents,” Manning admitted. “I wanted to play.” They said, “Do whatever you want.”
So Manning forewent the redshirt for the sake of the team, and No. 10 LSU (36-13) will finish the regular season with a three-game series against Liberty at Tiger Park beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.
“It would have been easy for her to say, ‘I’ll go for it next year,’ but she hasn’t done that,” she added. “She’s continued to get better every day, earned the opportunity and truly made the most of it.”
Since Coffey’s injury on March 2, LSU has started fellow freshmen Maddox McKee and Sierra Daniel for 27 games before resorting to Manning, who played middle infield in high school and summer travel ball.
Manning moved to third in the autumn and worked behind Coffey, a process that continued during preseason practices and the first 16 games of the season.
“I feel like in practice, I tried to be positive,” said Manning, a Class 5A All-State selection and District 2-5A MVP at West Monroe in 2023. “I was still trying to work really hard because one day, I could be able to help the team out and my time would come.”
Manning’s first action versus Tennessee came on the field, when he recorded two putouts in a 1-0 victory. Her first collegiate pitching experience was against Karlyn Pickens, the nation’s hardest thrower, and resulted in a strikeout after eight pitches.
Manning was a complete participant in a road game at UL, going 0 for 3 before LSU visited Arkansas last weekend. She recorded her first hit in Saturday’s 2-1 loss. She contributed to her team’s 1-0 triumph on Sunday with a single in the fifth inning.
“Danieca’s helped me tremendously,” Manning remarked. “Ever since I stepped foot on campus, she’s been the person I’ve gone to for everything.”
Manning, who has batted.200 in 10 plate appearances in six games, believes that her altruistic effort of playing in the final nine games of the regular season, as well as the postseason, is worthwhile in order to send off this year’s senior class with flair.
“My thought process is that I’m going to help my team,” Manning stated in a statement. “All of our seniors worked extremely hard for this. We all desire it, yet it’s reserved for seniors. “They’ve worked extremely hard.”
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