University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Announce 2004 Schedule
11/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Saturday, Nov. 8, 2003
LAFAYETTE – University of Louisiana at Lafayette head softball coach Stefni Lotief announced Saturday the Ragin' Cajuns 2004 softball schedule which features guaranteed games with nine teams that advanced to the 2003 NCAA Regionals plus a return trip to the prestigious Kia Klassic in Fullerton, Calif.
The schedule will feature a minimum of 61 regular season games with 26 of those coming at the friendly confines of the Ragin' Cajun Softball Park.
Louisiana-Lafayette will also participate in six in-season tournaments and 17 doubleheaders.
UL Lafayette will serve as the host for the 2004 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Thursday-Saturday, May 13-15, 2004, in addition to 14 regular season home dates.
Nine teams that participated in the 2003 NCAA Regionals will challenge the Cajuns in a total of 14 games. Texas State-San Marcos (formerly Southwest Texas), a regional finalist in 2003, visits Lafayette on March 16 for a 3 p.m. twinbill along with Sun Belt Conference foe Florida International April 17-18 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi April 21.
The annual trip to Fullerton for the Kia Klassic will give the Cajuns two matchups against teams ranked in the Top 10 of the final 2003 Top 25 poll as well as a date with the U.S. Olympic Softball Team.
While at the Kia, UL Lafayette will face DePaul and Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, March 18 in pool play before bracket play opens on Friday, March 19 at 7 p.m. (CT).
The Cajuns, coming off a 47-11 season and an appearance in the 2003 Women's College World Series, open the fourth campaign under Lotief and 24th in program history on Saturday, Feb. 7 against SEC-member Kentucky at the UL Monroe Mardi Gras Classic.
The following weekend UL Lafayette will open its home schedule with the first of two in-season tournaments to be held at the Ragin' Cajun Softball Park.
The Cajuns will host the 18th Annual Louisiana Classics Feb. 13-15 which is followed by the 1st Annual Mardi Gras Classic Feb. 20-22.
The Louisiana Classics features in-state schools Louisiana Tech, McNeese State and Northwestern State. UL Lafayette welcomes Evansville, Missouri, Prairie View A&M, Stephen F. Austin and Texas Tech for the Mardi Gras Classic.
A trip to Thibodaux, La., on Feb. 18 to face Nicholls State is sandwiched between the two home tournaments and serves as the first midweek doubleheader of the season.
The Sun Belt Conference slate will feature 20 games for the first time since the 2001 season as North Texas resurrects its program for 2004.
Louisiana-Lafayette, the three-time defending regular season champion, begins defense of its SBC crown April 10-11 in a four-game series at New Mexico State in Las Cruces, N.M.
The Cajuns will host Florida International (April 17-18) and Western Kentucky (May 1-2) for their eight home conference games.
UL Lafayette travels to meet North Texas (April 24-25) and Middle Tennessee (May 7-8) to round out SBC play.
The Cajuns return a total of 11 letterwinners from last season's squad including six position starters and two pitchers.
Highlighting the list of returnees is All-American Danyele Gomez who cranked out a school-record 20 home runs last season. Also back is junior pitcher Brooke Mitchell who established a new single-season strikeout record with 279 in 2003.
Plenty of local faces will be back in uniform in 2004 headlined by the return of Lafayette native Jill Robertson for her senior season.
For season ticket renewals or to purchase tickets, please contact the UL Lafayette Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 265-2100 or log onto the internet at www.ragincajuns.com.
2004 LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE SOFTBALL SCHEDULE
Feb. 7-8
(Sat.-Sun.), at UL Monroe Mardi Gras Classic
Feb. 7 (Sat.), vs. Kentucky, 9
a.m.
Feb. 7 (Sat.), vs. Gardner-Webb, 1 p.m.
Feb. 8 (Sun.), vs. Georgia Tech, 1 p.m.
Feb. 8 (Sun.), at UL Monroe, 5 p.m.
Feb. 13-15 (Fri.-Sun.), 18TH ANNUAL LOUISIANA
CLASSICS
Feb. 13 (Fri.), McNEESE
STATE, 4:15 p.m.
Feb. 13 (Fri.), LOUISIANA TECH, 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 14 (Sat.), McNEESE STATE, 4:15 p.m.
Feb. 14 (Sat.), NORTHWESTERN STATE, 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 15 (Sun.), NORTHWESTERN STATE, 1 p.m.
Feb. 18 (Wed.), at Nicholls
State (DH), 5 p.m.
Feb. 20-22 (Fri.-Sun.), 1ST ANNUAL MARDI GRAS CLASSIC
Feb. 25 (Wed.), LOUISIANA-MONROE (DH), 2 p.m.
Feb. 27-29 (Fri.-Sun.), at McNeese State Cowgirl
Classic
March 5-7
(Fri.-Sun.), at Florida State Seminole Challenge
March 5 (Fri.), vs. Connecticut,
11 a.m. (CT)
March 5 (Fri.), at Florida State, 3 p.m. (CT)
March 6 (Sat.), vs. Penn State, 9 a.m. (CT)
March 6 (Sat.), vs. Rhode Island, 3 p.m. (CT)
March 7 (Sun.), Rain Out Day (if necessary)
March 16 (Tues.), TEXAS STATE-SAN MARCOS (DH), 3 p.m.
March 18-21 (Thurs.-Sun.), at Kia Klassic
March 18 (Thurs.), vs. DePaul,
3 p.m. (CT)
March 18 (Thurs.), vs. Cal State-Fullerton, 7 p.m. (CT)
March 19 (Fri.), vs. U.S. Olympic Softball Team, 3 p.m.
(CT)
March 19 (Fri.), Bracket Play, 7 p.m. (CT)
March 20 (Sat.), Quarterfinals/Consolation Play, TBA
March 21 (Sun.), Semifinals and Championship, TBA
March 24 (Wed.), NICHOLLS STATE (DH), 5 p.m.
March 31 (Wed.), at Northwestern State (DH), 5 p.m.
April 10 (Sat.), *
at New Mexico State (DH), 2 p.m. (CT)
April 11 (Sun.), * at New Mexico State (DH), 2 p.m. (CT)
April 14 (Wed.), at Louisiana Tech (DH), 4 p.m.
April 17 (Sat.), * FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL (DH), 1 p.m.
April 18 (Sun.), * FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL (DH), 1 p.m.
April 21 (Wed.), TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (DH), 4 p.m.
April 24 (Sat.), * at North Texas (DH), 2 p.m.
April 25 (Sun.), * at North Texas (DH), 1 p.m.
May 1 (Sat.), *
WESTERN KENTUCKY (DH), 1 p.m.
May 2 (Sun.), * WESTERN KENTUCKY (DH), 1 p.m.
May 8 (Sat.), * at Middle Tennessee (DH), 1 p.m.
May 9 (Sun.), * at Middle Tennessee (DH), 1 p.m.
May 13-15 (Thurs.-Sat.), SUN BELT CONFERENCE
TOURNAMENT May 20-23 (Thurs.-Sun.), NCAA Regionals,
Campus Sites
May 27-31 (Thurs.-Mon.), NCAA College World Series,
Oklahoma City
All home games in
BOLD CAPS played at the Ragin' Cajun Softball
Park
All times are CENTRAL and subject to change
*indicates Sun Belt Conference Game
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
