Lobo Softball Releases 2020 Schedule
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The University of New Mexico head softball coach Paula Congleton and staff have crafted a competitive 2020 schedule for the Lobos, including two home tournaments in the first month of the season.
Entering her third year at the helm, the Lobo alum pieced together a balanced mix of NCAA Tournament teams as well as teams from some of the strongest conferences in the country.
UNM will play 12 teams that reached the NCAA Tournament in 2019, with two teams reaching the Super Regional and one going all the way to the Women’s College World Series.
Of the 29 teams that the Lobos will face in 2020, four teams complied 40 or more wins in 2019 and 17 posted 30-plus wins last season. Combined, the teams recorded 878 wins last year and represent 13 different conferences. Of those, UNM will face seven schools from the Power 5, including four from the Pac-12, two from the Big 12 and one from the SEC.
UNM SOFTBALL SCHEDULE
Beginning on Friday, Feb. 7, the Lobos will head to Phoenix, Ariz., for the GCU Tournament to face Weber State, Grand Canyon and Stanford. Both Weber State and Stanford reached the tournament, while Grand Canyon defeated No. 1 Florida State to hand the Seminoles their first loss of the season in 2019.
The Lobos will then host their first tournament of the season Valentine’s Day weekend, hosting UCSB and Northern Colorado.
Highlighting the non-conference schedule will be the Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., with the Lobos set to play a stacked lineup of UC Riverside, Arizona State, Missouri, San Diego, Cal and the USA Olympic Team. ASU and Missouri both made the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
From there, the Lobos will host La Salle, South Dakota and Northern Colorado for a three-day tournament starting on Friday, Feb. 28.
The following week, UNM travels to Austin, Texas for a weekend tournament against Texas Southern, Liberty and Texas with the Longhorns coming off of a Super Regional appearance.
Before beginning conference play on March 13, the Lobos will travel to Las Cruces for their first of two meetings against the Aggies.
UNM opens MW competition at San José State before hosting Utah State, but will then take a brief pause to travel to Tucson, Ariz., for a game against BYU and a game against Arizona. Both the Cougars and the Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament in 2018 with U of A advancing to the Women’s College World Series.
The Lobos stay on the road for a game at UTEP before resuming MW play at Colorado State. UNM will continue with Fresno State at home before hosting New Mexico State on Wednesday, April 15 at 5 p.m.
Picking back up in conference play, UNM heads to Reno for a three-game series against Nevada, before once again hosting a non-conference contest, this time against UTEP on Tuesday, April 22 at 2 p.m.
The homestand continues with a series against UNLV from April 24 to April 26 leading up to a four-game road trip, with a trip to Lubbock, Texas to play Texas Tech on Wednesday, April 29 and then to Boise State to begin the month of May.
UNM closes out the regular season at home versus San Diego State beginning on Thursday, May 7 with the final game to be played on Saturday, May 9.
In the offseason, the Lobos signed eight freshmen who will be making their collegiate debut in 2020 and bring back one redshirt-freshman, five sophomores, five juniors and four seniors. In addition, the Lobos have 11 on the roster from the state of New Mexico, including eight from Albuquerque.
Fans can purchase Lobo Pride Passes for access to all home games this season for $50 by clicking HERE. Other ways are directly through the Lobo Ticket Office in person or on the phone (925-LOBO). The Lobo Ticket Office is located in Dreamstyle Arena and is open 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.