Softball Releases 2022 Schedule

Schedule Page

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall softball head coach Megan Smith Lyon announced the Herd's 2022 schedule on Wednesday. Marshall will play 23 games at home at Dot Hicks Field this spring, the most since playing 24 at home in 2012.

"We are really looking forward to getting back to playing a full schedule in 2022," coach Smith Lyon said. "We are playing several strong opponents out of conference to help prepare us for a challenging C-USA schedule. I am extremely excited that we are able to play at home quite a bit this spring. We love our fans and their support and the atmosphere they provide us at The Dot is so special."

Due to COVID, the Thundering Herd played only 33 games in 2021, the fewest of any team in Conference USA. In 2022, Marshall has 56 games on the slate with three road early season tournaments, two home tournaments, four home conference weekends, four road conference weekends, and five mid-week non-conference matchups with four on the road and one at home. The 23 home games are the third-most in a season in program history. The most that the Herd has played in its home venue was 25 back in 2009 and again in 2010. Marshall played just 14 home games in 2021.

Among the Herd's opponents are three teams that played in the NCAA Regionals as well as combining for over 600 wins.

Coach Smith Lyon returns a veteran lineup with a mix of newcomers including two experienced transfers. The Herd's offense has been known to be very explosive since Smith Lyon took over in 2019.

The 2022 season gets started in 85 days (Feb. 11-13) as Marshall travels to Atlanta, Ga., for a tournament at the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. While at the home of the ACC host, the Herd will take on Saint Joseph's, Villanova and the Yellow Jackets for a total of five games. Villanova finished last season 37-15 overall and 15-2 in the Big East. The Wildcats won the Big East Title and then went 1-2 at the Arizona Regionals, with the win coming over the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC).

Marshall's second early season tournament is at future Sun Belt foe, Coastal Carolina, Feb. 18-20 for five games. The Herd is set to play Coastal Carolina, South Carolina and Fordham. All three teams finished with more than 20 wins last season. Fordham had a 37-10 record and 17-3 in the Atlantic 10. The Rams lost in the conference tournament to the eventual champions, George Washington. South Carolina fell in the second round of the SEC Tournament to 16th-ranked LSU before the Tigers moved on to host a NCAA Regional as well as play Florida State in Super Regionals.

The Herd's third early season road tournament takes Marshall down to Buies Creek, N.C., to Campbell University for five more games, Feb. 25-27. The Herd is scheduled to play Campbell, Kent State and Howard. The host Camels won 28 games this past season and won the Big South Title. Campbell went 1-2 at the Oklahoma State Regional with a win over Boston University and losses to No. 5 Oklahoma State and Mississippi State. Kent State features a sophomore pitcher, Jessica LeBeau, who tossed over 200 strikeouts during her freshman campaign in 2021 and was an All-MAC selection.

As the calendar turns to March, the Herd is set to play back-to-back home tournaments for a total of 10 games in front of the home crowd at Dot Hicks Field. At the Marshall Round Robin, March 4-6, the Herd welcomes Purdue Fort Wayne, Maryland Eastern Shore and Winthrop to Huntington. Purdue Fort Wayne played a schedule in 2021 that was almost exclusively Horizon League games with 35 of the Mastodons 39 games as conference contests. Maryland Eastern Shore did not play in 2021 due to COVID. Winthrop won over 20 games and is led by head coach Windy Thees who is the former head coach at Memphis when the Tigers were members of Conference USA.

Marshall's second home tournament, the Thundering Herd Invite, is set for March 11-13 at Dot Hicks Field. Making the trip to Huntington will be Norfolk State, Fairfield and Western Carolina. Marshall played Norfolk State in two exciting contests early in the 2020 season. Fairfield of the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference played only league games in 2021 with a total of 36 contests, winning 22. Western Carolina, the program that coach Smith Lyon began back in 2005-06, won over 20 games and lost to UNC Greensboro in the Southern Conference Tournament championship in 2021.

The Herd then goes through the remainder of the regular season with a mix of Conference USA games and five non-conference, mid-week matchups against some regional foes. The five non-conference opponents will be at the Ohio Bobcats (March 16), a doubleheader at the Bellarmine Knights (March 22), at the Akron Zips (March 29), a doubleheader at the Northern Kentucky Norse (April 12) and finally at home against the Morehead State Eagles (April 20). Ohio played 38 MAC games out of 47 total in 2021. Bellarmine played its first season in Division I this past year and came to Huntington for a three-game series. The Zips ended up playing 40 MAC games out of 54 total. Morehead State and Marshall last met in 2019.

The Herd has some exciting matchups in Conference USA set up for the 2022 season. C-USA has been able to make the move to having each three-game series played over three days with just one game a day. It is the plan the league had developed in 2020 before the season was canceled due to the pandemic. Last year, teams played only the schools within its own division and in a four-game series over three days.

At home Marshall will face Middle Tennessee (April 25-27), Charlotte (April 1-3), FIU (April 14-16) and finally UTEP (April 29-May 1) for senior weekend. The Herd will travel to UAB (March 18-20), Florida Atlantic (April 8-10), WKU (April 22-24) and end the regular season at North Texas (May 6-8).

North Texas will also be hosting the Conference USA Tournament, May 11-14. The Mean Green last hosted the C-USA postseason tournament in 2016.

For all of the latest information on the Marshall Softball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdSB, Facebook at Marshall University Softball and on www.herdzone.com.

To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules, and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS or Android!

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