Fresh off of its inaugural doubleheader sweep, the A&M-Commerce softball team will host the tournament in program history, four-team Lion Classic, at the John Cain Family Softball Field with eight games in a two-day span.
First pitch of the tournament will be Friday morning at 10 a.m. as Southern Nazarene and Tarleton State faceoff. The Lions will play their first game Friday at noon against Southern Nazarene, and then will watch Tarleton State and Northeast State play in the 2:30 pm. game. A&M-Commerce will play in the nightcap against Northeastern State at 4:45 p.m. to end the first day.
Day two will feature the same order of games at the exact same times.
The Lions enter play at 2-0 on the season after being picked to finish seventh in the LSC in the program's first year. A&M-Commerce defeated St. Edwards, a team that has appeared in the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons, 3-0 and 9-4 in the opening doubleheader.
Tarleton State, the only other team in the tournament over the weekend that has played in 2015, opened the season 2-0 with a pair of wins over Southwestern Oklahoma State, 15-14 and 11-8, in their opening doubleheader. The TexAnns were picked to finish sixth in the LSC preseason poll.
Southern Nazarene, who finished 19-34 overall and 12-26 in the Great American Conference, and Northeastern State, who went 29-30 overall and 12-14 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, have not played games in 2015.
Friday's games will be web streamed on the Lion Sports Network, while live stats will be available for all eight games of the tournament.