With the return of NCAA softball just weeks away, LSU fans should be getting excited for its return to Tiger Park.

Head coach Beth Torina always aims to start the season off strong, repeatedly opening the season facing some of the best non-conference competition out there. The Tigers are following up last year’s seventh-hardest SEC schedule with another difficult opening series, along with more top SEC matchups later in the year.

With so many top programs making the journey to Tiger Park this season, what home games should LSU fans stay on the lookout for?

NC State

LSU opens its season the night of Feb. 5 in the annual Tiger Classic series, facing a top non-conference opponent in North Carolina State.

The biggest storyline of this game is NC State’s head coach, Lindsay Leftwich’s return to Tiger Park, where she served as an assistant coach under Torina for 12 years. Even though LSU enters the year ranked much higher, Leftwich and Torina’s close bond and Leftwich’s understanding of how the Tigers play make this matchup much tighter than the records say.

NC State finished its 2025 season with some tough losses against top SEC and ACC teams, but also showed its ability to pull off upsets in wins against the likes of Notre Dame and Duke. Leftwich also brought in new talent this offseason with the 17th-best signing class in the nation, setting the Wolfpack up for even more success in 2026.

It will be exciting to get the season underway with such a competitive matchup, where both coaches will push their teams to secure bragging rights for the rest of the year.

Big Ten opponents

Many of LSU’s non-conference games are not home matchups and are instead played at invitationals, but LSU fans should still be on the lookout to watch the Tigers play some unfamiliar opponents.

Michigan State makes the journey down to Baton Rouge in late February to play LSU twice in the Purple and Gold Invitational. Michigan State is coming off a rough season last year, finishing 6-16, but is looking to come back stronger this season.

The last time the Spartans played at Tiger Park was in 2015, making this return a long time in the making.

Iowa, another top Big Ten team, comes down to Baton Rouge a week later for the LSU Invitational. The last time Iowa came to Baton Rouge was in 2019 for the Tiger Classic, where the Hawkeyes were pummeled in all three games: 9-0, 9-0 and 16-1.

Now, Iowa is a completely different team, finishing last season with a conference record of 15-7. The Hawkeyes will come to LSU looking for revenge, making this a competitive matchup for fans to attend.

SEC Play

LSU faces Texas A&M the weekend of March 14, in the first major SEC matchup at Tiger Park.

Texas A&M was one of the top teams in the SEC last year, finishing second in the SEC standings with a conference record of 16-7 and an overall record of 48-11. Texas A&M is always a top competitor with LSU for the SEC championship, and this matchup could surely happen again in the postseason.

Last year, when LSU and Texas A&M matched up, it was a top-ranked showdown between the No. 5 Tigers and No. 3 Aggies. LSU would end up losing three tough road games, 7-12, 7-9 and 1-4.

Now the Tigers host Texas A&M this go around, and hopefully they’re able to achieve better results. LSU fans should help fill up Tiger Park and cheer on their Tigers in this marquee SEC matchup.

Later in March, LSU hosts Oklahoma, the reigning co-SEC champions. This matchup might mean more to LSU than any other series this season, after Oklahoma beat the Tigers 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament last year.

To add more drama to this showdown, both LSU and Oklahoma got one of the other’s best pitchers in the 2025 transfer portal.

During the offseason, All-American pitcher Sydney Berzon transferred from LSU to Oklahoma to continue fighting for an SEC championship with the Sooners. On the other hand, LSU replaced Berzon by picking up Oklahoma’s senior pitcher Paytn Montichelli in the portal.

With the rivalries between both teams and former players, this matchup could likely get heated. LSU will need to come into this series in peak form to defeat this top SEC foe and get revenge after having its SEC championship hopes stripped away last season

It’ll be interesting to see how this less-experienced LSU team performs against the best of the best. Torina still choosing to play so many top-ranked teams shows her faith not just in this team but also in her coaching style, which prepares players for a long, tough season by facing big challenges early on. 

Tiger fans should try to impose their homefield advantage this year by attending some of these top matchups.