Erin Johnson had today's date circled on her calendar in red ink.
LSU's senior designated player/right fielder will experience mixed emotions when the No. 5 Tigers (24-7) travel to face unranked Southern Mississippi (15-17) in Hattiesburg for a 5 p.m. doubleheader at USM's Softball Complex.
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"I've been thinking about this one since I heard we were going to play them," said Johnson, who transferred to LSU after two seasons at USM. "I wondered what it would be like to see all the people who used to root for us. It would be two big wins regardless. But it would be two bigger wins for me."
Johnson's return marks her first visit to USM's campus since her transfer. It won't take long to see signs of her past success with the Eagles, who now play in the new USM Softball Complex that was finally opened in a doubleheader loss to Arkansas last week.
Talk of a new facility to replace USM's old Oak Grove Complex actually began during Johnson's two-year stay. It was during that span that the Eagles went 115-22 and earned back-to-back Women's College Series berths and finished in tied for third in 2000.
"I had a good two years there but I'm happier being a part of this program," said Johnson, who is batting .259 with a homer and seven RBIs. "I'm glad to see they got the new field after four years and two trips to the World Series. It will be good to see my old teammates the people that supported me there because there's no resentment there. This will mean a lot to show them I've had success here as well."
The midweek nonconference games take on a new importance for LSU, which is coming off a three-game Southeastern Conference sweep of South Carolina. The Tigers and Eagles are Central Region teams and have been paired in the last three NCAA Regionals in Baton Rouge.
"It magnifies the importance, just as much as any SEC opponent," LSU coach Yvette Girouard said. "There's some ground to be made up after losing to DePaul. We can't take anyone for granted."
USM stopped a four-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over Conference-USA foe South Florida. Sophomore pitcher Jessica Holoway (7-5), a Baker product and Northwestern State transfer, pitched a six-hit shutout to lower her earned run average to 2.22.
USM coach Gay McNutt, a former assistant under Girouard at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, has five Louisiana products on her roster -- including infielder Laura Davis (.220, 2 RBIs) and utility infielders Erinne Milligan (.238) of Denham Springs and Melanie Hymel (.250, 1 HR, 6 RBIs) of St. Amant.
Girouard plans to pitch All-Americans Britni Sneed (13-4, 1.23 ERA) and Kristin Schmidt (8-3, 1.27).
Center fielder Trena Peel leads the Tigers offensively with a .404 batting average, 10 triples, two homers and 21 RBIs. Third baseman and co-captain Julie Wiese is batting .312 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBIs.
"I know this may not be as big as conference, but I'm not downplaying it," said Johnson, whose home of Pascagoula is 90 minutes from Hattiesburg. "I still see it as two big games we'll play. Every game we play should be big, whether it's Florida, UCLA or DePaul. We want to go out every game and play to our potential."
