SAN ANTONIO — UTSA head softball coach Lori Cook announced Tuesday the 2010 schedule, highlighted by 24 home games that includes contests against Big 12 Conference powers Baylor and Texas and the first home tournament in five years.
“Once again, we will have a very challenging and exciting schedule on our hands,” said Cook, who has compiled 118 victories in her four seasons at the helm. “From the opening weekend through the conference tournament, we will be challenged. The type of teams we’ll play in non-conference will help prepare us for the battle that is the Southland Conference regular season and beyond. We’re elated about having a home tournament again, and getting Baylor and Texas at Roadrunner Field will be exciting for our program and our fans. We’re really looking forward to the season.””
The Roadrunners, 29-29 overall last season, will open the 54-game campaign by playing in back-to-back tournaments the first two weekends. UTSA will face Colorado State, Nebraska, Penn State, UTEP and New Mexico State at the Hotel Encanto Invitational on Feb. 12-14, in Las Cruces, N.M. The Runners then will travel to Houston for the Marriott Houston Classic on Feb. 19-21, where they will face Iowa State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Purdue, Texas and the host Cougars.
UTSA will head to Lubbock for a doubleheader at Texas Tech on Feb. 24, before returning home to host the UTSA Invitational on Feb. 26-28. The Roadrunners will play North Texas and UC Riverside twice each during the program’s first home tournament since the 2005 season.
The Roadrunners get Southland Conference play underway on March 2-3 with a three-game home series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. UTSA, which finished third in the Southland last year with an 18-11 record, remains at Roadrunner Field for a three-game league set against Stephen F. Austin on March 6-7 and will host Baylor in a non-conference matchup on March 9.
March’s 19-game slate continues with a conference road series at Sam Houston State on March 13-14, a home set against McNeese State the following weekend, a non-conference date at North Texas on March 25, a three-game Southland series at UT Arlington on March 27-28 and a home twinbill against Texas on March 30.
The Roadrunners have two home and two road league series in April, as they will host Southeastern Louisiana on April 2-3 and Texas State on April 23-24, while traveling to Central Arkansas on April 10-11 and Nicholls on April 17-18. UTSA also has scheduled a pair of doubleheaders against Houston Baptist at home on April 14 and in Houston on April 21.
UTSA concludes the regular season with a conference series at Northwestern State on May 8-9. The Southland Conference Tournament will be hosted by Texas State on May 13-15 in San Marcos.
