2020 Sun Belt Softball News and Notes:
Standings | Composite Schedule | Stats | Records Book
 
AROUND #SUNBELTSB
• The 2020 Sun Belt Conference softball season gets underway this week with 43 games on the schedule over the opening weekend.
 
• Sun Belt teams face Week 1 matchups against eight teams either ranked or receiving votes in the two major national polls (USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association and ESPN.com/USA Softball) – Minnesota (8/7), Kentucky (15/16), Michigan (17/14), Auburn (23/RV), Louisville (RV/RV), Virginia Tech (RV/RV), Missouri (RV) and Notre (/RV).
 
• Conference foes South Alabama and Texas State open the season in a rare non-conference matchup on Friday, Feb. 7, as a part of the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla.
 
• Louisiana enters this season as a consensus top 10 pick among six national preseason polls, ranked eighth in the D1Softball.com, FloSoftball, Softball America and College Sports Madness polls and 10th in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls.
 
• Last year, the Sun Belt enjoyed another milestone season that saw the league finish as the eighth-ranked conference in the NCAA Division I Softball RPI. Louisiana posted its first 50-win season since 2012, made its 21st consecutive Division I Softball Championship appearance and completed the second perfect record (25-0) in Sun Belt play in conference history. UTA captured the Postseason National Invitational Softball Championship title on the strength of its third-straight 30-win season and a program-record 17 conference wins.
 
• Louisiana senior pitchers Summer Ellyson and Megan Kleist and UTA senior shortstop Whitney Walton are among the initial candidates on the Top 50 watch list for the 2020 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award.
 
• Ellyson comes into her final season in Lafayette with a career ERA of 1.37, which ranks fourth all-time in Sun Belt history. She claimed 20 of the 25 wins in the Ragin' Cajuns' undefeated conference run a year ago, becoming the first individual in Sun Belt history to amass 20 conference wins in a single season.
 
• Louisiana topped the Sun Belt preseason accolades entering this season, picked as the unanimous preseason favorite to win the regular-season title with senior shortstop Alissa Dalton selected as Preseason Player of the Year and Ellyson tabbed as Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
 
• The conference's first softball weekly awards will be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
 
• The 2020 Sun Belt Softball Championship, hosted by Georgia State, is set for May 6-9 at the Robert E. Heck Softball Complex in Atlanta.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Friday, February 7    
1-Georgia State vs. Fresno State, 8:30 a.m.
1-Georgia State vs. Michigan, 10:45 a.m.
2-South Alabama vs. Texas State, 11 a.m.
2-Texas State vs. Kentucky, 1:30 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin at ULM, 2:30 p.m.
3-UTA at Texas A&M, 3 p.m.
4-Lipscomb at Troy, 3 p.m.
5-Hartford at Georgia Southern, 3:30 p.m.
6-Ball State at Louisiana, 4 p.m.
2-South Alabama vs. Missouri, 4 p.m.
7-Virginia Tech at Coastal Carolina, 4:15 p.m.
Southern at ULM, 5 p.m.
3-UTA at Texas A&M, 5:15 p.m.
4-College of Charleston at Troy, 5:30 p.m.
5-East Tennessee State at Georgia Southern, 6 p.m.
6-UTSA at Louisiana, 6 p.m.
 
Saturday, February 8    
2-Texas State vs. Louisville, 9 a.m.
7-Iowa at Coastal Carolina, 10:45 a.m.
8-Appalachian State at Virginia, 11 a.m.
2-Texas State vs. Auburn, 11:30 a.m.
7-East Carolina at Coastal Carolina, 1 p.m.
8-Appalachian State at Charlotte, 1:30 p.m.
Southern at ULM, 1:30 p.m.
4-Western Kentucky at Troy, 2 p.m.
2-South Alabama vs. Minnesota, 2 p.m.
6-North Texas at Louisiana, 2 p.m.
3-UTA at Texas A&M, 2:15 p.m.
5-East Tennessee State at Georgia Southern, 3:30 p.m.
6-UTSA at Louisiana, 4 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin at ULM, 4 p.m.
3-UTA vs. Abilene Christian, 4 p.m.
2-South Alabama vs. Illinois, 4:30 p.m.
4-Lipscomb at Troy, 4:30 p.m.
1-Georgia State vs. Illinois State, 5:30 p.m.
5-Rutgers at Georgia Southern, 6 p.m.
1-Georgia State at South Florida, 7:45 p.m.
 
Sunday, February 9
8-Appalachian State vs. Virginia, 9 a.m.
3-UTA vs. Abilene Christian, 10 a.m.
5-Army West Point at Georgia Southern (ESPN+), 10:30 a.m.
2-South Alabama vs. Notre Dame, 11 a.m.
8-Appalachian State at Charlotte, 11:30 a.m.
7-Campbell at Coastal Carolina, 1 p.m.
1-Georgia State vs. Florida, 1:30 p.m.
4-North Florida at Troy, 3 p.m.
 
All Times are Central and Subject to Change

KEY:
1-USF-Rawlings Invitational, Tampa, Fla.
2-NFCA Leadoff Classic, Clearwater, Fla.
3-Aggie Classic, College Station, Texas
4-Trojan Classic, Troy, Ala.
5-Bash in the Boro, Statesboro, Ga.
6-34th Annual Louisiana Classics, Lafayette, La.
7-Residence Inn Kickin' Chicken Classic, Conway, S.C.
8-Charlotte Invitational, Charlotte, N.C.