By Malcolm Butler
Louisiana Tech fans won’t soon forget — if ever — the Bulldog baseball team hosting the 2021 Conference USA Championships at the Love Shack almost two full years ago.
Talk about an electric atmosphere for both the Bulldogs and their fan base. And although the Diamond Dogs came up just short in the C-USA title game, their success — including those two dramatic wins over rival Southern Miss on that Saturday — led directly to Tech hosting an NCAA Regional the following week.
This week it will be the ladies turn.
Head coach Josh Taylor and the Lady Techsters will host the 2023 C-USA Championships at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field starting Wednesday and running through the championship game on Saturday.
Eight teams. Four days. 12 games. One champion.
Taylor and Co. shocked the C-USA softball world last year by claiming the regular season title in year No. 1 in Ruston. With 39 wins and a league trophy came expectations in year No. 2. Some of them fair. Some of them probably a little premature for a program that was eight games under .500 just two years ago.
However, the Lady Techsters enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed and will face No. 6 seed Middle Tennessee Wednesday at 12 p.m. in the first game of the tournament. It’s win or go home in a tournament format where the double elimination part of the tournament doesn’t start until after the first two games of the week conclude.
Thus, it’s imperative that Tech fans show up and show out on Wednesday at noon. The Lady Techsters went 13-11 in C-USA play, with eight of their 11 losses by 1 or 2 runs or in extra innings. The team has the talent and ability to make a run to Saturday’s championship game and a pro-Tech crowd would be a tremendous asset.
Here are five reasons why Tech fans, softball fans and just casual fans should make plans to come out this week and watch the 2023 Conference USA Softball Championships.
- Parity. Talk about a tournament that is up for grabs. Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, seven of the eight teams that qualified for the 2023 C-USA Championships had a shot to win the regular season title. That’s not a typo. Ultimately, the Charlotte 49ers won the regular season title by a half game. In Tech’s 10 years in C-USA, this is by far he most parity seen on the softball side.
- The host team could make history. Louisiana Tech is the No. 7 seed. If the Lady Techsters are able to win the tournament title on their own field, they would be the highest (or lowest however you want to look at it) to win the C-USA Tournament. The No. 6 seed is the highest seed to every win the tournament (Middle Tennessee in 2018).
- Talented teams. Conference USA is one of the best non-Power 5 softball conferences in the country. The top seven seeds in this week’s C-USA Championships are ranked in the top 100 in the country in the most recent RPI. The league has wins over plenty of P5 teams like North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Georgia, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, North Carolina, Iowa State, Iowa, and more.
- Stars on the field. There are some big-time players in Conference USA and they will be converging on Dr. Billy Bundrick Field this week. 2-time C-USA Player of the Year Bailey Vannoy (Charlotte) and Kailey Gamble (North Texas) are two of the top home run hitters in the country this year. Sierra Sacco (LA Tech) ranks in the top 10 nationally in stolen bases. Sam Gress (Charlotte) and Gabby Sacco (FAU) rank among the nation’s leaders in wins in the circle. All eight teams have stars and softball fans in north Louisiana will have an opportunity to see them in action.
- Local talent. Louisiana Tech’s roster is loaded with in-state players from the I-20 corridor, including Lauren Menzina (Cedar Creek), Katelin Cooper (Cedar Creek), KB Briley (Sterlington), Jordyn Manning (Ouachita), Alyssa Martin (Glenbrook), Caroline Easom (Airline), Paris Endris (Airline) and Jina Baffuto (Airline).
I will leave you with a sixth and final reason to come out this week and it’s the most important one: to support your hometown team. These 26 ladies are donning the red and blue with the LA Tech logo on their uniforms. And they would love and appreciate a big crowd at their beautiful facility to come out and cheer them on in what will be a highly-competitive week of college softball.
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Tickets for the 2023 Conference USA Softball Championships are still on sale and can be purchased at the softball box office each day. Single session (day) and all-tournament tickets are available at various price points (chairback, bleacher seat, berm). For ticket information, call 318-257-3631 or go to LATechSports.com/tickets.
