BEAUMONT, Texas — Lamar University’s softball team released its 2023 schedule as announced by head coach Amy Hooks Wednesday morning. This season will see LU compete in 14 home games, including four three-game conference series and will partake in four tournaments to open the year.
Being on the road for most of the season will be a challenge for the Cardinals. But as Hooks explains, LU will look to use this as a springboard to making their return to the Southland Conference after being in the Western Athletic Conference last year. “I’m very excited for the 2023 season,” said Hooks. “We are going to play a competitive non-conference schedule with majority of the games being played on the road. This is going to test us early but ultimately get us prepared for a tough Southland Conference. I can’t wait to see this team compete this year.”
LU’s 2023 campaign starts with a five-game tournament down in the Houston Invite hosted by the Cougars from Feb. 9th-11th. They will open up the season with a showdown against Virginia on the 9th at 3:00 p.m. On the 10th, LU will take on Nebraska (10:00 a.m.) before battling the Cougars. The Cardinals conclude the tournament on the 11th with rematches against the Cavaliers (10:00 a.m.) and Cornhuskers (5:30 p.m.).
LU’s next trip will see them head down to Central Texas. First, it will be a Thursday contest at Texas (2/15) at 6:30 p.m. Then, LU’s second tournament, the I-35 Tournament, will be hosted on the campuses of both UTSA and Texas State. LU will rotate locations as they will be in San Marcos to play the Bobcats (2/16; 6 p.m) and San Antonio to face-off with the Roadrunners (2/19; 12:30 p.m.). In between games, LU will have two contests with Abilene Christian in each city at 12:00 p.m. on the 17th and 18th.
Big Red’s first doubleheader of the season will be on Feb. 21st at 3:00 p.m. as they hit the road to Nacogdoches to meet with Stephen F. Austin. Following the Tuesday contest, LU flies out to Tallahassee, Fla., for Florida State’s Unconquered Invitational (Feb. 24-26). Facing the Seminoles on the 24th and 26th, the Cardinals will also play against Troy (2/24 and 2/26) and Florida Gulf Coast (2/25).
Opening March again on the road with one contest against Tarleton State (3/1; 6 p.m.), LU’s final tournament sees them travel to Arlington for the Boerner Invitational (Mar. 3-5) hosted by UT-Arlington. LU will have two games on the 3rd and 4th against both Missouri-Kansas City and Rider before the final game against the Mavericks on the 5th.
March 8th sees LU with a trip to take on former conference foe Sam Houston at 6:30 p.m. Then, Southland Conference play starts as LU will hit the road to Northwestern State (3/10-3/11) for their first conference series.
Finally, beginning on the weekend of March 17th-18th, the Cardinals make their long-awaited home opener when they welcome in Southeastern Louisiana for their next series. LU will make it five straight home games as they host a doubleheader on the 21st against Texas Southern.
Big Red ends March with a road contest on the 28th at Texas A&M and will go into April with a home series against nearby rival McNeese (3/31-4/1). An eight-game road stretch follows over the next two weeks as LU will take on Southern in a doubleheader (4/5) before conference road series against Nicholls (4/7-4/8) and A&M-Corpus Christi (4/14-4/15).
Back home on the weekend of Apr. 21-22, to host Houston Baptist, LU ends April with a road series to UIW (4/28-4/29) before having their first and only conference series in May with their final home appearances against A&M-Commerce (5/5-5/6). The SLC tournament will begin on May 9th and run through the 12th as all games will be on the campus of McNeese.
All home conference series will be Friday doubleheaders beginning at 3 p.m. while the Saturday finales will be at noon. For road conference series, the Friday times will be an hour later. All home games will be played at LU Softball Complex.