I was able to catch up with LSU catcher Maci Bergeron to discuss her Freshman season and what is to come in her Sophomore campaign. Maci was one of the most sought after players in the country coming out of Notre Dame High School in Crowley, La. She was rated as high as No.2 overall and with good reason.
In her Junior season at Notre Dame Bergeron maintained a .562 batting average with a monstrous 30 homeruns and 78 RBIs. Teams wised up in her Senior season and stopped giving her as many opportunities, even so, she still managed to maintain a .515 batting average with 16 homeruns and 55 RBIs.
On why Bergeron chose LSU, she stated " The reason i chose LSU was because I wanted to represent my home state." She added " It was more important for me to have my family at all of my games and being at LSU made that possible. I had many other offers that I was super grateful for but I knew I belonged at LSU."
In her Freshman season she started 32 games at catcher and excelled behind the plate with a .995 fielding percentage, only allowing 5 passed balls. Runners attempted stealing 17 times and were caught stealing on 6 of those attempts. On the offensive side of the ball she maintained a .214 batting average with a .323 on base percentage. She had 18 hits, 3 doubles, 11 RBIs and reached base on balls 11 times.
For many players adjusting from high school to college there is a learning curve and Maci discussed that with me, saying "the adjustment from high school to college was a challenge, but i feel as if it has pushed me past my limits and has made me a better person and player as a whole." She added " I think I did okay, but i expect more out of myself and expect to work even harder for next season." During her adjustment to the college game she said " the older girls really helped me a lot,and my family reminded me of how good I was." On where she finds she excelled this season she says " the mental mental side of the game and learned many new lessons that will help me throughout my career."
Maci's first collegiate homerun on the season came in the Baton Rouge Regional. She says "hitting my first homerun in the Baton Rouge Regional was a really cool experience that I will never forget. I worked extremely hard all year and for it to happen in such a special moment meant a lot for me." She added "I was actually talking to one of my teammates about how cool it would be if it happened that weekend." On that note she started putting things together towards the end of the season and she shared her thoughts on that "I started hitting a lot better because of my experiences I had in the beginning of the season helped me towards the end of season." Over the last month and a half of the season Bergeron had 17 At bats with 5 hits for a .294 batting average with 1 HR and 2RBIs . Compared to the first two months of the season where she had 67 at bats with 13 hits for a .194 batting average and 6 RBIs."
Regarding her Sophomore campaign she says "I want to focus on becoming a better all-around hitter." Adding to that she said " focusing on the little things like finding the pitch I need to hit, not being to big with everything and sticking to my plan when I go up to the plate." Her goals for next year were short and to the point "going to the college world series and becoming an All-American."
If you would like to show support to Maci the tweet below will take you you to where you can purchase one of her NIL posters !!!
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