Western Kentucky softball head coach Amy Tudor and her staff announced the program’s 2022 schedule Tuesday.

The team returns 10 players from last year’s Conference USA Tournament champion squad, along with welcoming two transfers and five freshmen. Looking ahead at the season, WKU will be competing against a strong schedule of 50 games while hoping to secure a spot in the C-USA tournament – hosted by North Texas from May 11-14.

The regular-season slate starts with a trip to College Station, Texas, for the Texas A&M-hosted Aggie Classic. The season starts Feb. 11 as WKU faces off against UT Arlington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Day two for the Tops in the Lone Star State includes matchups against Texas A&M and a rematch against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. On Sunday, action closes as WKU faces UT Arlington for their second matchup of the weekend.

The next weekend (Feb. 18-20) opens the Hilltoppers’ 10-game homestand as WKU hosts the Hilltopper Classic. Central Michigan, Bellarmine and Southeast Missouri State all visit the WKU Softball Complex.

For the third weekend (Feb. 25-27), WKU will welcome Ohio, Dayton and Illinois State to Bowling Green for the WKU Spring Fling.

The fourth weekend (March 4-6) includes a trip to Oxford, Miss., as the Tops will play in the Ole Miss Classic. The Rebels are coming off of a 36-22 season just a year ago as the Tops will match up with them twice across the tournament.

Following the Tops’ monthlong span of weekend tournaments, WKU will hit the road to open Conference USA regular-season action. Following the March 11-13 three-game series at Charlotte, the Hilltoppers will stay on the road for their first midweek tilts of the season with a doubleheader at Chattanooga on March 16.

WKU will host Belmont on April 6, visit Eastern Kentucky on April 13, then host Lipscomb (April 19) and Alabama (April 27) in nonconference.

The 17 nonconference squads the Tops will play in 2021 represent nine different leagues.

Returning from the shortened 2020 season, all Conference USA series will switch to a three-game series played over a three-day span.

WKU’s conference schedule includes traveling to Charlotte (March 11-13), Florida Atlantic (March 25-27), UAB (April 8-10) and Southern Miss (April 29-May 1), while the Hilltoppers will host UTEP (March 18-20), FIU (April 1-3), Marshall (April 20-22) and Middle Tennessee (May 6-8).

After hosting the Conference USA Tournament for the first time during the 2021 campaign – and becoming the first C-USA Tournament host to win the event since East Carolina in 2011 – the Hilltoppers will look to return to the eight-team postseason event.

Last season, the Tops became the first host in eight seasons to qualify for the tournament. WKU has now made the event for four-straight seasons and has its eyes set on May 11-14 in Denton, Texas as North Texas hosts.

Over the span of the season, WKU is slated to host 25 games and will match up against 25 different teams.