COMMERCE – The 10th season in Texas A&M University-Commerce softball program history begins this weekend with the Lion Classic at the John Cain Family Softball Complex.
The Lions are home for six games this weekend, beginning the 2024 season, which features 37 home games.
LIONS' WEEKEND SCHEDULE
The full schedule of the Lion Classic can be found
HERE.
PROMOTIONS
Friday is Opening Day and National Pizza Day, with a free pizza giveaway between the two games on Friday evening.
Sunday is Big Game Sunday. Fans are encouraged to wear their sports jersey to the game and all kids can run the bases following the conclusion of the games.
TENTH SEASON OF LION SOFTBALL
Friday begins the 10
th season of Lion Softball. The first season of competition for the program was the 2015 season, and this is the second season for the Lions in NCAA Division I and the Southland Conference.
PRESEASON POLL
In the preseason poll released by the Southland Conference last week, the Lions were picked ninth, after finishing in that exact position in their first season in the conference last year. A&M-Commerce received 17 points.
2024 SOUTHLAND SOFTBALL PRESEASON POLL
| Rank |
Team (First-Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1 |
McNeese (16) |
128 |
| 2 |
Southeastern (2) |
114 |
| 3 |
Nicholls |
97 |
| 4 |
Lamar |
78 |
| 5 |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
72 |
| 6 |
Northwestern State |
63 |
| 7 |
HCU |
49 |
| 8 |
UIW |
30 |
| 9 |
A&M-COMMERCE |
17 |
WELCOME NEWCOMERS
This season, the Lions have 10 newcomers on the 22-player roster. Of the 10 newcomers, five are incoming freshmen, which are
Charli Anger (Lubbock – Cooper),
Isabella Arzola (Chino, Calif.),
Brooke Hilton (Plano West),
Jenna Joyce (Royse City), and
Tehya Pitts (Denton – Guyer),
The remaining five are newcomers are transfers:
Maddie Muller (Frisco – Memorial) from Arkansas Rich Mountain,
Ashley Diaz (Chino, Calif.) from Mt. SAC,
Lencia Powell (Birdville) from Weatherford College,
Darby Hickey (Plano Senior) from Temple College, and
Stephanie Tapia (Yuma, Ariz.) from Pima Community College.
PLAYING THE BEST OF THE BEST
The Lions play six games against Power Five conference teams and eight games against teams that played in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
The games against Power Five conference opponents include three-game series against Houston, and a game against Arkansas, both at home, while heading to Oklahoma, the winner of the last three Women's College World Series, and at Texas A&M.
Along with the Power Five conference opponents, the Lions also welcome Omaha, who made the NCAA Tournament last season and host McNeese during Southland play. The Cowgirls were a Regional Finalist last season.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
A&M-Commerce begins the season against UMass Lowell on Friday. The Riverhawks went 21-29-1 last season and 10-8 in the America East. UMass Lowell made the second round of the America East tournament and plays A&M-Commerce twice this weekend.
The Lions and Stonehill play three times this weekend, with the first game coming on Friday night. The Skyhawks are also in their second year of transition into NCAA Division I and went 4-42 last season and 2-19 in the Northeast Conference.
Texas Southern and A&M-Commerce meet to close out the weekend on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers had a record of 16-25 last season and went 12-12 in the Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC). Texas Southern was eliminated in the second round of the SWAC Tournament last season.
-TAMUC-
