NEW YORK — Columbia softball head coach
Jennifer Teague announced the team's 2022 schedule on Wednesday. The 41-game regular season slate includes 12 home games, as well as preseason tournaments in Florida, Maryland and California.
"We are beyond excited first and foremost to get back on the field and compete," Columbia head coach
Jennifer Teague said. "Our schedule has a really good balance that I feel will be challenging and fulfilling to set us up for a strong start and finish in the Ivies. We can't wait to get started!"
Columbia's last full season of competition was back in 2019, when Teague's squad qualified for the Ivy League Playoff Series for the first time. The Lions went 24-21 overall with a 15-6 mark in Ivy play, winning its most league games in team history and finishing second in the final standings. Columbia was picked No, 1 in the 2020 Ivy League Preseason Poll, but that year was cut short before league play due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lions were 5-5 through 10 games.
The long-awaited return of Columbia softball begins February 25 down in Florida at FAU. There, the Lions will open against perennial SEC powerhouse Kentucky, which advanced to the 2021 NCAA Super Regionals. Columbia will also go up against host Florida Atlantic, LIU, Jacksonville and Michigan State.
The Lions will squeeze in a midweek doubleheader at Fairleigh Dickinson before traveling to Towson for their next tournament. Columbia will play two against Providence, as well as one against Coppin State and the host Tigers. The following weekend, the Lions fly out to California for Spring Break, where they'll compete at the UC Riverside Classic against St. Mary's, Cal Baptist and North Dakota. They'll close the West Coast trip with a game in Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount
Ivy League play starts up the following weekend, March 19-20, with a three-game series at Penn. Columbia will also play on the road at Cornell (March 26-27), Brown (April 15-16) and Dartmouth (April 23-24) in Ivy play.
Columbia's home opener is set for Wednesday, March 23, when they host Iona at the Columbia Softball Stadium. It will be the team's first home game since May 4, 2019, marking 1,054 days since the Lions last played at home. The following Wednesday, March 30, Columbia will host 2021 MAAC champion Manhattan.
The first home Ivy League series takes place April 2-3 against Harvard, the team Columbia played in the 2019 Ivy League Playoff Series. The Lions will be home the following weekend as well for a series against Yale (April 9-10). A midweek game against Monmouth (April 13) closes out a stretch of eight-of-nine games at home.
The Lions close out the regular season at home with a series against Princeton (April 30 - May 1). The 2022 Ivy League Playoff Series will take place two weeks later, May 13-14, and will be hosted by the league's regular season champion. The top two teams at the end of the regular season compete in the best-of-three playoff for the right to represent the Ivies at the 2022 NCAA Regionals.
For the latest on the Columbia softball program, follow @CULionsSoftball on
Twitter and
Instagram, on Facebook at Facebook.com/CULionsSoftball. You can view all the latest with the Lions on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com/Softball.
