RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech released its 2021 softball schedule today with the defending Conference USA champions set to play in the brand new state-of-the-art complex starting this February.

"Our student-athletes and staff are so excited about moving into the new facility this season," said Interim Head Coach Bianca Duran. "I've had an opportunity to walk through the site recently, and it truly will be a game-changer for this program. Not only are our players going to love calling it home, but I know our fans are going to be excited about the game-day experience in the new ballpark as well."

Tech, which captured the 2019 Conference USA regular season and tournament title, currently has five tournaments, 15 C-USA games and 11 midweeks match-ups on its slate. The Lady Techsters, who played only 24 games in 2020 prior to the season coming to an abrupt end due to Covid19, will open the 2021 campaign the weekend of February 12-14 at the ULM Tournament.

The most current version of the schedule is not totally complete due to the impact of Covid19 that has caused a decrease in number of league games and as well as an impact to non-conference tournaments and contests. Tech is working to add games over the course of the next few months.

"Our ultimate goal year in and year out is to schedule the full 56 regular season games and to provide our fans a home schedule that includes 20-plus games," said Associate Athletics Director and Softball Sports Admin Malcolm Butler. "This year provides some challenges to that goal with the loss of six home Conference USA games. We have some additional home game casualties due to other factors.

"We are working hard to try to add games to this year's schedule. We face some challenges to this with most schools and conferences sitting in a holding pattern. But we will continue to be diligent in our attempt to add more games as we get closer to the start of the season to help showcase this unbelievable new facility and our 2021 team."

The Lady Techsters are also scheduled to play in tournaments hosted by Memphis (March 20-21) and Tulsa (March 27-28) as well as the Big Easy Classic (February 19-21), a neutral site event in Metairie. Tech will host a tournament in Ruston on March 5-7 that includes Big 12 foe Baylor.

Tech will unveil its new multi-million dollar stadium when its hosts ULM on February 23. The Lady Techsters also host mid-week games against Grambling State and Northwestern State as part of home-and-homes with all three of those programs.

Complete details (opponents, game times, etc.) for the tournaments will be released at a later date. Stay tuned to LATechSports.com for up-to-date information on the Lady Techster Softball program.