BEAUMONT, Texas — The Cardinals are prepared to open the season at the annual Texas Classic, hosted by the University of Texas, where they will square off against Wichita State, Maryland, Colorado State and Texas. All games are played at Red & Charline McCombs Field. Tickets can be purchased by using this LINK.
Lamar is led by returning Southland Newcomer of the Year in senior Jade Lewis. Lewis was named to the 2020 Preseason All-Southland First Team. In the circle, the Cardinals will turn to sophomore Aaliyah Ruiz who finished last season with a 2.30 ERA in 106.2 innings pitched.
Broadcast Info
Every game at the Texas Classic is slated for live broadcast on Longhorn Network with two separate crews – TEXAS GAMES: Alex Loeb (play-by-play) and Megan Willis (color)/NEUTRAL GAMES: Tyler Denning (play-by-play) and Erin Miller (color).
Need to Know
- The Cardinals are playing in the annual Texas Classic for the first time since the 2015 season. In that season, Lamar went 4-1 with the field participants being Texas, Dartmouth and Texas Southern.
- The lone loss came on day two to Dartmouth, and the Cardinals went onto defeat Texas, 9-1, in five innings.
- The 2020 edition of the Texas Classic includes Texas, Wichita State, Lamar, Maryland and Colorado State.
Scouting Report
COLORADO STATE
- Jen Fisher guided the Rams in 2019, during her ninth year at the helm, to a 39-12 mark and winning the Mountain West title. She led Colorado State to their first NCAA Tournament game win since 1997.
- The Rams return all-conference players in first baseman Ashley Ruiz, outfielder Tara Shadowen and hitter Ashley Michelena.
- Ruiz garnered First Team All-Mountain West honors after making 49 appearances while finishing the season with a .386 batting average and a .401 on-base percentage.
All-Time Record vs. Colorado State: First Meeting
- At Neutral Sites: First Meeting
- Last Meeting: First Meeting
MARYLAND
- Head coach Mark Montgomery is at the helm for his first season with the Terps, but his 20th season of coaching overall.
- Taylor Okada returns for the Terps after suffering season ending injury. She only appeared in 26 games, but averaged .426 hitting with a .455 OBP.
All-Time Record vs. Maryland: First Meeting
- At Neutral Sites: First Meeting
- Last Meeting: First Meeting
TEXAS
- Texas enters 2020 riding a four-game winning streak in its home-hosted Texas Classic. UT went 4-0 in last year's event with wins over Boston College (two wins), Northwestern State and Boise State.
- Texas is returning 14 letter winners from 2019 that combined to total 82% of the runs, 90% of the hits, 93% of the doubles, 88% of the HR's, 89% of the RBIs, 86% of the walks and 74% of the stolen bases. From a pitching standpoint, Texas returns 80% of the pitching wins, 75% of the starts, 91% of the complete games, 89% of the solo shutouts, 78% of the innings pitched and 74% of the strikeouts.
- Texas opens as the preseason No. 6 according to the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll and the preseason No. 10 in the Softball America Top 25.
All-Time Record vs. Texas: 1-2
- At Neutral Sites: Texas leads, 2-1
- Last Meeting: Lamar won, 9-1 (02/28/2015)
WICHITA STATE
- Kristi Bredbenner is entering her ninth season as the Wichita State head softball coach. Bredbenner has led the Shockers to two NCAA Regional Appearances (2016, 2018) including the first NCAA Regional Final game in school history (2018).
- The Shockers were picked to finish second in the Preseason American Athletic Conference Coaches' Poll.
- The Shockers bring back a bulk of their roster that includes 2019 All-Conference selections: Madison Perrigan (First Team), Ryleigh Buck (First Team), Sydney McKinney (First Team, All-Rookie Team) and Erin McDonald (Second Team). Wichita State also welcomes back redshirt senior Bailey Lange who missed almost all of her senior campaign due to injury.
All-Time Record vs. Wichita State: First Meeting
- At Neutral Sites: First Meeting
- Last Meeting: First Meeting
Tournament Schedule
Thursday, February 6
1:00pm Wichita State 8 Maryland 0 (6)
3:30pm Texas 10 Wichita State 2 (6)
6:00pm Texas 17 Maryland 0 (5)
Friday, February 7
9:00am Texas A&M-CC vs. Colorado State
11:30am Wichita State vs. LAMAR
2:00pm Texas A&M-CC vs. Wichita State
4:30pm Maryland vs. Colorado State
7:00pm LAMAR vs. Texas
Saturday, February 8
9:00am Colorado State vs. LAMAR
11:30am Maryland vs. LAMAR
2:00pm Colorado State vs. Texas
4:30pm Wichita State vs. Texas
7:00pm Maryland vs. Texas A&M-CC
Sunday, February 9
10:00am Wichita State vs. Colorado State
12:30pm Texas A&M-CC vs. Texas
*home team is listed second for all games
For the latest news and information on the Cardinals, follow Lamar softball on Twitter (@LamarSoftball), Facebook (Lamar Softball), Instagram (@LamarSoftball) and lamarcardinals.com/sports/softball.