LSU Softball Player Wrongly Criticized For Berating Umpire Serves As Great Reminder To Give Athletes Grace

LSU softball entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 10 seed, but it is one of just four seeded teams that will not reach a Super Regional after a disappointing result in Baton Rouge over the weekend. The Tigers hosted a Regional, but didn't make it out.

LSU run-ruled Prairie View A&M on Friday and beat Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday. As a result, the Bayou Bengals were into the Regional final Sunday. They needed just one more win to move on.

Instead, the Ragin' Cajuns beat them 7-4 in Game 1 and 9-8 in Game 2.

LSU lost its regional, at home, on back-to-back intentional walk failures.

A wild pitch in the top of the seventh tied the score.

An attempt to walk the next batter resulted in an RBI single. The Tigers never answered.

While the way in which LSU lost was unfortunate, a larger conversation came from the second loss.

LSU's Georgia Clark was wrongly criticized.

Georgia Clark, who led the Tigers with 13 home runs, was caught up in a crucial call during the first game against ULL on Sunday. It all went down in the top of the seventh inning.

LSU trailed 7-4 with two runners on base. Clark stepped into the box and mashed what appeared to be a game-tying home run.

However, it was ruled foul. Tigers head coach Beth Torina wanted a review, but it was deemed unreviewable because because the ball went over the foul pole. The ball crossed over the foul pole and did not cross in front of it or behind it.

A possible game-tying dinger was called foul. LSU went on to lose the first of two games.

Clark proceeded to go yard in the second inning of the second game. As she rounded second base, she turned to the umpire and exchanged some words.

The clip immediately went viral and everybody was quick to point out her poor sportsmanship.

However, everybody who criticized her was wrong to do so.

Clark was actually saying something nice. She was just a little bit fired up after hitting a crucial early jack in an elimination game of a Regional.

Just to clarify for everyone. This umpire was the third base umpire in the first game and he was the second base umpire in second game. On my home run, knowing I probably wouldn’t get a chance to tell him, I said "you made the right call" from the game before

Watch the video again (50-second mark) and notice the smile on the umpire's face as Clark rounds the bag. And the thumbs up.

In response, Clark has also asked for fans to grant athletes some grace— a fair request in a world where the internet immediately jumps all over every little thing and often spins it as a negative.

Now, it should be noted that Clark was later tossed from the second game after expressing her frustration with the home plate umpire. While she was certainly saying something unkind toward the umpire in that specific instance, the broadcast announcer did not think that the ejection was warranted.

I think she turned back to the umpire and said, 'that’s on you.' Feeling slighted for that strike. The one given on her earlier in the at bat when she showed the bunt. Wow ... I don't like the toss. I understand you're fired up. This is a pressure moment. Could be potentially your last game here. You want to be able to keep your composure, but you cannot take a player out of the game that quickly.

Perhaps the home plate umpire thought that Clark said something nasty to his second base counterpart during the second inning and lumped it all together? Give athletes grace!