Softball Announces 2016 Schedule
11/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin softball team’s 2016 schedule has been officially announced by head coach Gay McNutt. The upcoming slate will feature games against some of the best collegiate softball teams in the nation in the early months to prepare the Ladyjacks for the Southland Conference season.
“I feel really good about our team right now and what lies ahead,” said McNutt. I feel good about it because our girls feel good about it. When the team’s excited, I’m excited. The only thing I ask my kids to do is play hard. I think that if we play hard we’ll have the chance to beat anybody this year. Our mentality is that we’re going to play the game hard and the way that it was supposed to be played – with excitement and enthusiasm. We can’t wait to get the season started in February.”
SFA will play 23 non-conference games in total before SLC play begins, with all but two taking place on the road. Four tournaments in four different states will take up the bulk of the out-of-league action.
The Ladyjacks kick off the year on February 12th in Monroe, Louisiana for the ULM Mardi Gras Tournament, where the ‘Jacks will face Seton Hall, Prairie View A&M, Grambling and ULM. From there, McNutt and her team will venture to Tallahassee, Florida for a February 17th matchup with Florida State.
Between Feb. 19-21, SFA will collide with Elon, Georgia, UAB, Missouri and the Florida Gators – the 2015 NCAA Champions – at the Citrus Classic in Orlando, Florida. The 11-game road swing to open the year will come to a close when the Ladyjacks return to the friendly confines of SFA Softball Field on Feb. 24 for a date with Texas Southern.
Starting on Feb. 26, SFA will face UTSA, Ole Miss and Northern Iowa at the Ole Miss Classic in Oxford, Mississippi before opening March with five games out of the Texas Tech Invitational in Lubbock, Texas. The ‘Jacks will tangle with UTSA, McNeese, Texas Tech and Ohio in the final tournament of the year.
On March 9th, Louisiana Tech will come to Nacogdoches for a 3:00 p.m. tilt at SFA Softball Field as the last non-conference action before SLC play gets underway.
“We’ve always played pretty well in the preseason,” McNutt noted. “We are just going to need to carry that over into conference. The thing about the SLC is that everybody is going to know us. We’ve been playing everyone for years. We can’t have weaknesses at that point in our season. We’ll need to build on our strengths and make sure that we’re ready to go. We’re going to be very competitive and we’re going to be in every ballgame. It’ll just be a matter of making sure we’re prepared to finish those ballgames.”
The Ladyjacks will play three-game conference series against nine of the other 11 league members from March 11th – May 7th, beginning with Nicholls at home. Central Arkansas (March 18-19), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (April 1-2), Abilene Christian (April 15-16) and Sam Houston State (May 6-7) will join Nicholls (March 11-12) on trips to Nacogdoches during the course of the year. SFA will travel to play Southeastern Louisiana (March 25-26), Houston Baptist (April 8-9), Incarnate Word (April 22-23) and Northwestern State (April 29-30).
The Ladyjacks will break up their league season with a home doubleheader against North Texas on March 22nd and single home affairs against Prairie View A&M on April 12th and Houston on April 19th. SFA will make a return trip to Texas Southern on March 15th and travel to take on McNutt’s alma mater Texas A&M on April 6th.
The 2015 Southland Conference Tournament, held this year in Lake Charles, Louisiana, will start on May 11th. SFA will look to be one of six teams invited to compete for the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“Winning the conference tournament has really been our focus this year,” said McNutt. “Everything we’re doing is going to build up to that and we want to be able to put ourselves in a good position to achieve that goal come May. We’re really looking forward to it.”
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