Yvette Girouard: A Softball Pioneer Who Helped Make The Game What It Is Today

Girouard was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December 2005 and the Louisiana Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in June 2002.

Building one softball program into a name program from scratch is tough enough.

Setting up a second one for continued and long-lasting success as a national powerhouse is something else indeed.

It’s for that and several other varied reasons that she is known as a Hall of Fame coach, a pioneer of the game, one of the greatest coaches in the game and oh yes, a genuinely nice person.

How do you accomplish 1,285 wins in over 30 seasons? Well, you know how to coach, you know how to recruit and once you get them there know what to do with them.

That’s what she did first at then USL in Lafayette and then in a move that shocked some and seemed like a matter of time to others, she made the 50-mile trek to Baton Rouge to make new memories at LSU.

Three times in the 1990s she took the Cajuns to softball’s pinnacle, the NCAA Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. She became just the third coach in NCAA history to take two programs to the WCWS when she led LSU there at the end of the 2001 and 2004 seasons.

Both trips to World Series with LSU had their historical significance with the LSU trip in 2001 coming in her very first year with the Tigers. LSU finished third but what happened in 2004 was a trip to remember.

LSU was riding the arm of outstanding pitcher Kirstin Schmidt who went 4-0 in the regional round with a 0.45 ERA. Had it not been for a weather interruption in the tournament, LSU was in position to make enough noise to get to the final of the WCWS.

But that weather delay would force LSU into an unenviable situation of having to win three games in one day and that may have been the difference when all was said and done. Girouard made all the right moves in defeating Florida State, 2-1 and then California, 4-1 forcing an “if necessary” game for the right to go to what was then a one-game championship round.

Forcing that game marked the first time since 1984 a school from east of the Mississippi River had advanced to within a game of the national championship.

LSU was seven outs away from the title before falling to California, 4-1.

The three-time All-American Schmidt pitched 20 and two-thirds innings on that Sunday, picking up two wins before running of out gas late in the third game. Throwing 349 pitches, she battled LSU to within a few innings of the national championship game with a performance that earned her the respect of the softball world as she was voted the Most Outstanding Player of the WCWS, the first time that award was presented to a player not on the winning team.

For their efforts, Girouard, associated head coach James DeFeo and assistant coach Lori Osterberg were named NFCA South Region Coaching Staff of the year during both of LSU’s WCWS seasons.

#21 and Team Captain (2000-2004) Julie Wiese rounding third with Girourard’s support

Some 43 times LSU players were selected All-America. Also 16 times, LSU players received Academic All-America honors.

Perhaps it is giving back to the game by molding successful coaches for the next generation. Girouard has left her stamp as 11 former players/coaches associated with her over the years currently hold Division I jobs. Girouard was named Coach of the Year in three separate conferences and 14 times was named Coach of the Year in the state of Louisiana.

The 2009 season saw LSU usher in the next chapter of its storied history with the opening of the new Tiger Park, the single largest monetary investment LSU has made exclusively to any women’s sport. Girouard placed her own personal touch by giving the architects many of the ideas for the park’s unique features, including the arches at the front of the stadium and the popular outfield berm.

To say she has come a long way from a high school coach in Lafayette to building a team from the ground floor with no scholarships and a $3,000 budget to taking two teams to the college softball’s pinnacle event.

From her first win in 1981 with USL to her last in 2011 with LSU, Girouard has made national softball history.

Now she’s still a part of the game as color analyst for both the Cajuns and Tigers on ESPN and SEC Network Plus broadcasts. She still has the same enthusiasm and love of the game not entertaining folks with her knowledge and humor that continues to make her a relevant part of the game in 2021.