Softball Announces 2010 Schedule
12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Dec. 1, 2009
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss Head Softball Coach Howard Dobson released the 2010 schedule highlighted by four tournaments including two at home and six teams, (Arkansas, Mississippi State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Notre Dame, Florida State and Tulsa), that reached the postseason play last season.
"We are excited about out 2010 schedule because we have a good mixture of home games," said Dobson. "We have 28 home contests, so half of our games are at home this year and that is a good thing being able to play in front of our crowd. We do have some very good contests because we are going to Florida State, an ACC school, as well as Arkansas, a SEC school. We have the University of Notre Dame, a regional team, coming to Hattiesburg to play us here in our tournament and that's really going to help us prepare for our conference."
The Golden Eagles open the season playing the first five games on the road beginning at the Florida State Tournament (Feb. 11-13) that include Florida, Mercer, Iona College and Bowling Green before playing a single tilt at Southern University (Feb. 16).
Southern Miss then returns home to host the Southern Miss Mizuno Classic (Feb. 20-21) that include Alcorn State, Notre Dame, Stephen F. Austin and Louisiana Tech, before traveling to South Alabama for a single game (Feb. 24).
Southern Miss then plays in the third of four tournaments when they host the Southern Miss Invitational which features Central Arkansas, Indiana, Jackson State and Belmont.
Southern Miss gets back on the road, traveling to the Arkansas Tournament (Mar. 5-7) where the Golden Eagles face Drake, Iowa State, Eastern Illinois, Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas.
"We have a very competitive schedule and we are looking to turn over that leaf and get over the .500 mark this year and push up to the top three in our conference, and I believe our non-conference schedule will help us to that," Dobson said.
The Golden Eagles will also play non-conference opponents Jackson State (Mar. 10) in a double-header, before opening C-USA play on the road against Houston (Mar. 13-14) with a three-game series.
Southern Miss hosts Mississippi State (Mar. 17), then travels to Nicholls State (Mar. 24) before returning home to host UCF (Mar. 27-28) in a three-game series. The Golden Eagles head to UTEP (Arp. 2-3) for a three-game set, then hosts Ole Miss (Apr. 6) in a single game in Ridgeland Miss. Other conference home series include Tulsa (Apr. 10-11), Marshall (Apr. 24-25) and UAB (May 8-9).
Southern Miss also travels to Memphis (Apr. 17-18) and East Carolina (May 1-2). Other road tilts include single games at Alcorn State (Apr. 7) and Southeastern Louisiana (Apr. 28) and hosts Northwestern State (May 5) in a double-header.
The Conference USA Championship is scheduled for May 13-15 in Houston, Texas, where the top six teams will compete for the C-USA Crown.
The Golden Eagles return at total of 13 letterwinners, including seven position player starters and a starting pitcher from last year's squad that finished 26-28-2. The team also welcomes six newcomers.