Oct. 24, 2002
WACO, Texas - Baylor softball head coach Glenn Moore announced the program's 2003 schedule Thursday. The Lady Bears play 18 home games and host two early season tournaments.
Nine of Baylor's 2003 opponents appeared in the 48-team 2002 NCAA Tournament. Five teams on the schedule - DePaul, Louisiana State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas - have combined for eight College World Series appearances since 1997.
"This schedule is more challenging than the schedule we had last year," Moore said. "After fall practice, I feel we could have made it a little more difficult. We'd like to see stronger teams in some of the early season tournaments, but that's something we can't always control. Our non-conference schedule has definitely strengthened, and the teams we're playing that we played last year have all improved."
Coming off the best season in the program's history in which the Lady Bears went 46-18 and established more than 50 school records, Baylor opens its 2003 campaign Jan. 31-Feb. 2 with the second-annual Getterman Classic. The Lady Bears welcome Centenary, Florida and Texas-Arlington to Getterman Stadium for the three-day, double round-robin event.
Baylor hosts another three-day, double round-robin tournament Feb. 21-23 as Alabama-Birmingham, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa converge on Waco for the second-annual Compass Bank Invitational.
The Lady Bears compete in four other pre-conference season tournaments, perhaps none more intriguing than the Feb. 7-9 Tiger Classic at Baton Rouge, La. Baylor faces Centenary, DePaul, Louisiana State and Stephen F. Austin at the Tiger Classic. Moore served as head coach at LSU for three seasons before coming to Baylor in June 2000.
Another trip to the Bayou State sends the Lady Bears to the Mardi Gras Classic, hosted by Louisiana-Monroe the following weekend. Baylor also plays at the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Tournament (Feb. 28-March 2) and at the Malihini Tournament in Honolulu, Hawai'i (March 6-9).
Big 12 Conference play begins March 22-23 as Oklahoma State comes to town for a two-game series. The Lady Bears also host Texas A&M (April 2), Nebraska (April 5-6), Texas Tech (April 8, DH), Texas (April 16) and Missouri (April 18-19) in conference action.
Baylor joins the other nine Big 12 teams that participate in softball May 1-4 at Don A. Porter ASA Hall of Fame Stadium at Oklahoma City, Okla., for the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
JANUARY31-2 GETTERMAN CLASSIC
FEBRUARY6 at Northwestern State 3:00 p.m.7-9 at The Tiger Classic !14-16 at Mardi Gras Classic #19 at Texas-Arlington 5:00 p.m.21-23 COMPASS BANK INVITATIONAL27 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 5:00 p.m.28-2 at TAMU-Corpus Christi Tournament $
MARCH6-9 at Malihini Tournament %18 STEPHEN F. AUSTIN (DH) 5:00 p.m.19 OKLAHOMA CITY (DH) 5:00 p.m.22 OKLAHOMA STATE * 2:00 p.m.23 OKLAHOMA STATE * 1:00 p.m.26 at Texas * 6:30 p.m.29 at Oklahoma * 2:00 p.m.30 at Oklahoma * 1:00 p.m.
APRIL2 TEXAS A&M * 6:30 p.m.5 NEBRASKA * 2:00 p.m.6 NEBRASKA * 1:00 p.m.8 TEXAS TECH * (DH) 2:00 p.m.10 SAM HOUSTON STATE (DH) 5:00 p.m.12 at Iowa State * 2:00 p.m.13 at Iowa State * 1:00 p.m.15 SOUTHWEST TEXAS (DH) 5:00 p.m.16 TEXAS * 6:30 p.m.18 MISSOURI * 6:30 p.m.19 MISSOURI * Noon24 at Texas A&M * 6:30 p.m.26 at Kansas * 2:00 p.m.27 at Kansas * 1:00 p.m.
MAY1-4 at Big 12 Tournament !!14-18 at NCAA Regionals ##21-26 at NCAA College World Series !!
! - at Louisiana State (Baton Rouge, La.)# - at Louisiana-Monroe (Monroe, La.)$ - at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi, Texas)% - at University of Hawai'i (Honolulu, Hawai'i)!! - at Don A. Porter Stadium (Oklahoma City, Okla.)## - Campus Sites (to be determined)
ALL TIMES CENTRAL AND SUBJECT TO CHANGEHOME GAMES IN BOLD CAPS
