By ROBERT L. LEE

HAMMOND – Two Lutcher High School graduates have learned much more than softball during their varied careers on the Southeastern Louisiana University softball team. Brandy Neal and Michelle Roussel have found a new home among the Lions’ team and admit that although the first semester and the new faces mixed in took some getting used to, their college experience has been overwhelmed by fun.

“I’ve learned to get along with so many people. You’ve got to be a team player,” said Neal, who has played the short stop position on the Lions’ softball team for the past two years as a junior and senior.

Neal transferred from Gulf Coast Junior College in Panama City, Fla., where she studied for two years while also playing softball. The sheer distance from home helped spur her decision to switch to Southeastern in Hammond, where she could play out her last two years as short stop and have her family and friends in the stands more often.

“I love having my family come see me and I’ve definitely enjoyed my two years here,” Neal continued. “It’s always been my dream, especially in high school, to play softball in college. I knew I wanted to play as long as I could.”

She is currently fighting to stretch her last season and last game with the Lions well into the post season, which will be possible should the Lions break their 20-20 overall and 5-10 conference record with a series sweep against Nicholls this weekend.

The eminent close of this season, Neal’s fourth college season, will spell the end of her softball career. She plans to continue studying at Southeastern and earn a bachelor’s degree in spring of 2003, then concentrate for the next two years on a master’s degree in Speech, Language and Hearing.

As a senior, Neal takes on the added responsibility of helping guide younger players through the tough times of adjusting to the highs and lows which erupt in softball and the first years of being away at college. While a plethora of new faces from all parts of the country light up the campus and the team, Neal found a familiar face in the crowd with on year’s team when Roussel joined as a pitcher.

“She’s an awesome player. She’s got a good head on her shoulders,” said Neal. When the team loses a game or Roussel seems upset, “I tell her to keep working hard and don’t forget why you’re here. I think when she gets to be a senior, she’ll be unstoppable.”

Having started 23 of the 27 games she’s played in this season, Roussel said she is starting to get the hang of college life and the “very big change” which has accompanied the classes and softball program.

She admitted she found it hard to adjust to the new faces and surroundings, especially during the first week, but said the staff of teachers, coaches and the players on the team have been nice helped make the transition easier.

“I had a hard time in the fall,” said Roussel. “But I had always looked up to Brandy in high school and always worked behind her. Here, we have become a lot better friends and she’s an awesome short stop.”

Along with Neal, Roussel credits her Southeastern coaches and friend Risley St. Germain, a freshman on the Lions’ baseball team who is also from Lutcher, for taking the edge off the transition to college.

Compared to her time at Lutcher, she said college life is “totally different. It doesn’t feel like it sometimes, but it is,” Roussel continued. “Most people on our high school team were people you grew up with, here, there are so many different personalities and you meet a lot of new people. It’s cool learning about other people and other places.”

She said although her first semester was “rough,” she has since adjusted to her teachers, how they give tests and simply being away from home.

Roussel said she is excited to be away from home for college, but chose to study in Hammond because it was still close enough for her family to go see her play.

Although Roussel has adjusted to the Southeastern swing of things, remains of intimidation still manage to sprout on the softball field, especially when she takes to the mound. The simple reason: the overpowering size of some players on the opposing teams.

“Every team in college has girls who are real buffed up,” she explained. “Everybody’s a lot stronger and so talented. I really wasn’t expecting to start.”

As a freshman just joining the team, she said she expected this to be a learning year, and probably from the bench. During her freshman year, she has not only learned how to pitch against larger and stronger players, but how to play in the outfield. When she was playing for the Lady Bulldogs, she began as a short stop, then led from the mound her senior year, despite a rotator cuff injury.

“I’ve never played outfield before in my life,” she said. “But I like trying new things.” As far as her injury, she claims it starts to hurt sometimes in batting practice, but she can put ice on it and continue playing.

Her words of advice for future high school graduates mimicked those from Neal in a straight-forward voice. “If they want to play college ball, they’ve got to work very hard. I wish I could change some things from high school, I’d practice every day. I wish we could have won the state tournament quarterfinal game. I know I pitched hard, but there were some more mental things I could have done in high school.”