TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler softball head coach Mike Reed recently made the 2022 schedule for the Patriots official with 52 total games comprising of 22 games of non-conference competition and 30 games against Lone Star Conference foes.
 
The Patriots will be back to defend their 2021 Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship after completing their first full year of competition in the league with a record of 27-3 against LSC foes. UT Tyler will have the opportunity to compete for postseason play in 2022 as the institution received approval for full-fledged Division II status this summer.

"We have another very challenging schedule this year," coach Reed said. "It includes 15 games against nine teams that were in the NCAA Tournament last year."
 
Coach Reed and company's record of 50-10 throughout the last two seasons of competition against Division II foes in the mandatory three-year transition period to full Division II status has garnered the Patriots an invitation into a pair of elite non-conference tournaments to kick off the 2022 season. The first of those two events will take place on Feb. 4-6 in the annual Arkansas Tech Invitational set to take place in Houston, Texas.
 
That field will give the Patriots six games to begin the 2022 season against Southern Nazarene, Central Oklahoma, Central Missouri, Harding, Colorado School of Mines and Arkansas Tech.

"The first weekend at the Arkansas Tech Invitational is a nationally-ranked field including Central Oklahoma, Central Missouri and Arkansas Tech that were all in the NCAA Tournament last season." Coach Reed said.
 
The following week will take UT Tyler to the Alvy Early Memorial Classic on Feb. 11-13 in Bentonville, Ark. Another stern test of competition will await the Patriots in that event, as they will see Drury, Quincy, Missouri-St. Louis, Upper Iowa and Emporia State over the course of the weekend.
 
The Patriots will continue on with the non-conference portion of their schedule with seven additional non-conference games leading up to the start of LSC play, beginning on Feb. 16 with a midweek double header on the road against Our Lady of the Lake. The first games at Suddenlink Field inside the UT Tyer Ballpark will take place on Feb. 18-19 with three games against Arkansas-Monticello.
 
The pre-conference schedule will wrap up on Sunday, Feb. 27^th against Rogers State, in a road doubleheader against a Hillcat squad that went 34-15-1 in 2021.

"With our first 13 games on the road, we will be tested and see where we need to improve from the start." Coach Reed said.
 
The Lone Star Conference schedule will get started the following week in what will undoubtedly be a highlighted doubleheader across the Division II landscape on Mar. 4^th in Canyon, Texas. UT Tyler will visit defending NCAA Division II National Champions West Texas A&M after sweeping the Lady Buffs last season by 8-1 and 10-3 final scores in Tyler.
 
That match-up will kick off the round robin LSC schedule that will see each conference foe compete in a single doubleheader against each conference opponent. The regular season LSC champion will be decided at the end of the slate of games and will go to the team with the highest winning percentage in conference play at season's end.
 
10 teams will qualify for the 2022 LSC Softball Championships based on their finish in the league standings. Those 10 teams will meet at the no. 1 seed, and LSC regular season champion's host site, on May 5-7^th.

"Playing in the Lone Star Conference is a battle every weekend and we wanted our schedule to test us early to go us ready." Coach Reed said.
 
UT Tyler will complete their opening road trip in LSC play on Sunday, Mar. 6^th following that Friday night meeting with West Texas A&M in Portales, N.M. with a doubleheader against Eastern New Mexico.
 
The home LSC openers for the Patriots will take place on Mar. 11^th and 13^th against UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico. That set of games will be followed up on Mar. 18^th and 20^th back on the road against Texas Woman's and Midwestern State.
 
The return to a full-slate of games will allow coach Reed and the Patriots the opportunity to sprinkle in a few non-conference midweek match-ups throughout the conference schedule. The first of those such games will take place on the Patriots home turf on Mar. 22^nd against Southeastern Oklahoma State.
 
The return to LSC play the following weekend on Mar. 25^th through the 27^th will get a big stretch of games started for the Patriots as they take on Angelo State, Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M-International in consecutive weeks. The Angelo State-Lubbock Christian pair of doubleheaders will take place on the road, while the latter games against Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M International will occur on Suddenlink Field on Apr. 1^st and 3^rd.
 
All four of those opponents over that stretch finished within the top eight of the 2021 Lone Star Conference regular season standings, and includes a set of games against a Lubbock Christian squad that was one of only two teams to defeat the eventual LSC Champions UT Tyler in 2021.
 
UT Tyler will then hit the road for six straight games against St. Mary's and St. Edward's on Apr. 8^th and 10^th and then the non-conference finale for the Patriots on Apr. 12^th at Henderson State.
 
The final six games of the 2022 season before the conference tournament will be in Tyler, and will square the squad up with Oklahoma Christian, Cameron and Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
The complete 2022 schedule can be found below.
 

2022 UT Tyler Softball Schedule
 

Date(s)	Opponent	Location
Arkansas Tech Invitational (Conroe, Texas)
Feb. 4	Southern Nazarene	Conroe, Texas
Feb. 4	Central Oklahoma	Conroe, Texas
Feb. 5	Central Missouri	Conroe, Texas
Feb. 5	Harding	Conroe, Texas
Feb. 6	Colorado School of Mines	Conroe, Texas
Feb. 6	Arkansas Tech	Conroe, Texas
Alvy Early Memorial Classic (Bentonville, Ark.)
Feb. 11	Drury	Bentonville, Ark.
Feb. 11	Quincy	Bentonville, Ark.
Feb. 12	Missouri-St. Louis	Bentonville, Ark.
Feb. 12	Upper Iowa	Bentonville, Ark.
Feb. 13	Emporia State	Bentonville, Ark.
Feb. 16	^ Our Lady of the Lake	San Antonio, Texas
Feb. 18	Arkansas-Monticello	Tyler, Texas
Feb. 19	^ Arkansas Monticello	Tyler, Texas
Feb. 27	^ Rogers State	Claremore, Okla.
Mar. 4	^* West Texas A&M	Canyon, Texas
Mar. 6	^* Eastern New Mexico	Portales, N.M.
Mar. 11	^* UT Permian Basin	Tyler, Texas
Mar. 13	^* Western New Mexico	Tyler, Texas
Mar. 18	^* Texas Woman's	Denton, Texas
Mar. 20	^* Midwestern State	Wichita Falls, Texas
Mar. 22	^ Southeastern Oklahoma State	Tyler, Texas
Mar. 25	^* Angelo State	San Angelo, Texas
Mar. 27	^* Lubbock Christian	Lubbock, Texas
Apr. 1	^* Texas A&M-Kingsville	Tyler, Texas
Apr. 3	^* Texas A&M International	Tyler, Texas
Apr. 8	^* St. Mary's	San Antonio, Texas
Apr. 10	^* St. Edward's	Austin, Texas
Apr. 12	^ Henderson State	Arkadelphia, Ark.
Apr. 22	^* Oklahoma Christian	Tyler, Texas
Apr. 24	^* Cameron	Tyler, Texas
Apr. 30	^* Texas A&M-Commerce	Tyler, Texas
May 5	LSC Championships	TBD
May 6	LSC Championships	TBD
May 7	LSC Championships	TBD