HOUSTON - Head coach Kyla Holas announced Thursday that the University of Houston softball team will take on three Top-20 programs at the Spring Klein College Classic on Oct. 14-15.

The Cougars went 3-2 in last year's event, defeating Texas Tech, North Texas and Blinn College before falling to Oklahoma and New Mexico State.

Houston starts the tournament with Louisiana-Lafayette at 11am Saturday morning followed by games with New Mexico State and Blinn College at 3pm and 5pm, respectively. UH hooks up with a pair of Big 12 schools, matching up with Baylor at 1pm, and concluding the tournament against Texas at 3pm, Sunday afternoon.

"We're excited about the opportunity to take on three Top-20 programs in a fall tournament," Holas said. "Each of these programs has characteristics that we can apply to our program. Our team will see right away what it takes to get to the level we want to be once the spring season begins."

Louisiana-Lafayette is the six-time Sun Belt defending champions after coming off a 50-12 campaign. The Ragin' Cajuns were eliminated by a pair of one-run decisions against LSU in the NCAA Regionals a season ago. ULL will have to reload after losing three of its top four hitters and its top two pitchers from last season. The Cajuns return Lacey Bertucci, who hit 19 homers and drove home 57 RBIs last season.


The rest of the story