BATON ROUGE — The LSU softball program has always faced a challenging schedule and 2010 will be no different as head coach Yvette Girouard released the 2010 slate on Thursday. The Tigers are scheduled to play 30 games against NCAA Regional teams, including nine tilts versus a quartet of Women’s College World Series squads from a season ago.
LSU starts 2010 with its toughest non-conference weekend against three national powerhouses in North Carolina, DePaul and host Texas at the Time Warner Texas Invitational [Feb. 12-14].
“Our opening weekend at Texas is one of the better opening weekends in the nation,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “It will be a challenge for us to start on the road against three quality programs. We also recruit heavily in Texas and it will be a special weekend for the five Texans on our roster.”
The Tigers return to Baton Rouge and open an 18-game homestand against Louisiana-Monroe [Feb. 17] before playing host to the first of three tournaments on consecutive weekends. LSU welcomes Michigan, Oklahoma State and Virginia for the Tiger Classic [Feb. 19-21].
Houston, Jacksonville State and Southern visit Tiger Park the following weekend for the Tiger Invitational [Feb. 20-22]. LSU squares off with Campbell, Evansville, South Alabama and Syracuse at the Purple and Gold Challenge [March 5-7] to conclude the non-conference tournament schedule.
LSU also faces McNeese State [March 31 & April 21] in a home-and-home series along with Southeastern Louisiana [March 24] and Nicholls State [April 14] on the road.
“Our home schedule is very exciting for our fans at Tiger Park especially our tournament schedules,” Girouard said. “You always want to make sure that the schedule addresses the RPI, and we’ve done that by playing seven NCAA Tournament teams leading up to conference play.”
LSU heads into SEC action at South Carolina [March 13-14]. The Tigers also head to Women’s College World Series foes Florida [April 3-4] and Alabama [April 7] along with stops at a pair of NCAA Regional foes in Kentucky [April 24-25] and Tennessee [May 8-9].
LSU takes on Ole Miss [March 17] followed by NCAA Regional participants Auburn [March 20-21], Mississippi State [April 10-11] and Arkansas [April 17-18]. The Tigers wrap up the home slate against Georgia [May 1-2], its fourth 2009 Women’s College World Series opponent.
“There are no pushovers in the SEC and the proof is in the pudding as nine teams from our league made the NCAA’s last season,” Girouard said. “It’s a brutal road schedule for us especially having to play Florida and Alabama back-to-back over a span of five days. Tennessee is very tough in Knoxville as we found out in last year’s SEC Tournament and Kentucky is a program on the rise.”
LSU tallied a 34-18-1 record during the 2009 season and made its 11th NCAA Regional appearance since softball was reinstated in 1997. The Tigers are sixth nationally and have compiled an impressive 441-137-1 record since Girouard took over the program prior to the 2001 season.