Last season, Stefni Lotief’s No. 10-ranked Cajuns missed a return trip to the Women's College World Series by just one game.
This season, Lotief and the Cajuns (60-8 in 2004), who finished No. 10 in the final NFCA and ESPN/USA Today softball polls, return seven of eight position starters, ace pitcher Brooke Mitchell and a total of 13 letterwinners with sights set upon returning to Oklahoma City.
The 2005 season schedule will feature a minimum of 60 regular season games with 34 of those coming at the friendly confines of the Ragin' Cajun Softball Park. Louisiana-Lafayette will also participate in five in-season tournaments and 17 doubleheaders.
The Cajuns have 21 playing dates scheduled for Ragin' Cajuns Softball Park, highlighted by a three-game weekend series against perennial powerhouse Arizona March 25-27.
"It is such a wonderful opportunity for the nation's No. 1 team to visit Lafayette for a weekend series," Lotief said in reference to the Arizona series to be held Easter weekend. "It is a wonderful tribute to the community support and fans of this program."
Louisiana will begin the season by hosting three tournaments in February - Louisiana's Mardi Gras Classic (Feb. 4-6), Ragin' Cajuns Invitational (Feb. 11-13) and the 19th Annual Louisiana Classics (Feb. 18-20) - which guarantees the Cajuns 15 straight home games to open the campaign.
UL will be featured guests at two of the nation's most prestigious tournaments. The Ragin' Cajuns will participate in the 10th Annual NFCA Leadoff Classic (Feb. 25-27) in Columbus, Ga., and the KIA Klassic (March 17-20) in Fullerton, Calif.
"The hard work and continued success of this program has again given us the chance to play in some of the most prestigious (invitation only) tournaments in the country," Lotief said. "We have some great games in these tournaments, including the Leadoff Classic, which always involves the best teams in the country and should provide a sneak peak at what the NCAA Regionals will be like."
The Cajuns will play a 20-game, round-robin Sun Belt Conference schedule. Louisiana, the four-time defending regular season champion, begins defense of its Sun Belt crown April 9-10 in a four-game series against New Mexico State at home. Last season, Louisiana went undefeated in SBC play for the first time in school history.
Other home Sun Belt series will be against North Texas (April 23-24) and Middle Tennessee (May 7-8), giving UL 12 out of 20 conference games at home. The Cajuns travel to meet Florida International (April 16-17) and Western Kentucky (April 30-May 1).
After the regular season is complete, Louisiana will participate in the 6th Annual Sun Belt Conference Tournament on May 12-14 in Bowling Green, Ky. There, the Cajuns will look to make it six straight tournament titles and keep its unblemished record in the event intact (16-0 through five previous tournaments).
The complete 2005 softball schedule can be found at
<a href='http://www.ragincajuns.com/softball/schedules/schedule.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.ragincajuns.com/softball/schedu...es/schedule.htm</a>.
For season ticket information, contact the UL Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 265-2100 or log onto the internet at
http://www.ragincajuns.com.
-- Ragin’ Cajuns --
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Softball releases 2005 schedule
