The University of Kentucky softball team will hit the road again this weekend, Feb. 24-26, as it travels to the Aztec Invitational in San Diego, Calif. The Wildcats will play five games during the three-day tournament hosted by San Diego State University.

The Cats enter this weekend?s tournament with a 6-2 record after winning three straight over Kent State last week in their home opener.

UK opens the tournament Friday afternoon against Long Beach State. Game time is set for 2:15 p.m. ET. UK and LBSU faced off two weeks ago at the UNLV Alexis Resort Kickoff Classic with the Cats winning that meeting by a final score of 6-4. The Cats and 49ers (4-3) are tied 1-1 in the all-time series.

The Cats follow the LBSU game with a 4:30 p.m. contest with Colorado State. This marks the first meeting between UK and CSU. The Rams enter the weekend with a 7-4 record.

UK will face host-team SDSU on Saturday at 6:45 p.m., followed by a matchup with Indiana State at 11:15 p.m. The Aztecs are currently 5-2 on the year and lead 1-0 in the all-time series with UK. SDSU defeated the Wildcats 4-3 last season at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. This marks the second meeting between UK and ISU who will open its season this weekend. The Cats won that meeting during the 1999 season by a score of 3-2.

In their fifth and final game of the weekend, the Cats will face Loyola Marymount in a noon start. LMU is currently 4-3 this season. This marks the first meeting between the two schools.

?We are excited to get on the field again in sunny California. We have some injuries that have short-handed us but we are just going to have to rise up and keep plugging away,? said head coach Eileen Schmidt. ?This tournament will be tough. All these teams swing big bats, so our pitching will need to be sharp. If we play as hard and with the effort we did the first weekend and against Kent State, win or lose, it will be a great weekend. You can’t ask anymore from a team then quality effort.?