Opening Weekend Canceled for UL Softball
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns will have to wait another few days to begin their 2021 college softball schedule.
9th-ranked Louisiana, who was scheduled to open its 2021 season this weekend against #18 Baylor and Missouri St. in the 35th Annual Louisiana Classics, will now not play, as the entire weekend has been canceled.
The tournament was originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday, before being pushed back to Saturday and Sunday earlier today.
Now, because of the projected cold weather, as well as some rain in the Acadiana area, the tournament has been canceled altogether.
Currently, there's a 60% chance of rain on Friday, with another 20% chance of rain on Saturday, and a 40% chance of rain on Sunday.
The big thing is the projected cold weather, however, with afternoon highs projected only in the early-mid 40s on Friday and Saturday, with a Sunday high projected to peak only in the upper 30s.
With this weekend's games being canceled, Louisiana is now scheduled to open its 2021 regular-season schedule on Tuesday afternoon, when they travel to Beaumont, Texas to take on Lamar in a non-conference doubleheader.
First-pitch for the first game of that doubleheader is now slated for 2 p.m.
The Cajuns are now scheduled to play their home opener on Wednesday, February 24 when they host McNeese.
Last season, Louisiana was 18-6, ranked in everyone's top ten, and number one in the RPI poll when the season was shut down in mid-March due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
We'll never know how things would have played out, but it's almost certain UL would have hosted a regional for the first time since 2016, and very likely would have hosted a Super Regional for the first time since 2014.
Had this been the case, Louisiana would have headed to the NCAA Softball Tournament for the 22nd-consecutive year, while making an NCAA Regional appearance for the 30th time in the last 31 years.
The only year since 1990 in which UL failed to appear in a regional was 1998.
Louisiana is one of only 9 programs to appear in an NCAA Regional every year since 2000, joining Alabama, Arizona, Florida St., Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, UCLA, and Washington.