Coach Dickson Announces 2017 Softball Schedule
1/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
2017 Softball Schedule
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin softball team's 2017 schedule has been officially announced by Head Coach Nicole Dickson. This will be the Ladyjacks first season under the direction of new Head Coach Dickson, and they have some tough competition in the early months to help prepare the Ladyjacks for the Southland Conference season.
""As a staff we are excited about this season. We have a great group of young ladies," said Dickson. "Our seniors have done an excellent job leading and making adjustments to the new program expectations and culture. We have two returning pitchers, [Makayla] Sikes and [Callee] Guffey, with solid post season experience and have add two more arms in the circle with [Jordan] LLinas and [Halie] Vance. With talented returners from last year's team, [Brittany] Lewis and [Taylor] Fraccastoro, and strong offensive additions such as [Amber] Landry, [Katie] Clark and [Tanna] Huie, we are confident in our ability to compete at a high level this season."
SFA will play 24 nonconference games before SLC play begins, with all but one series on the road. Three of the four out-of-league tournaments will be hosted out-of-state, the one exception being the Texas A&M Tournament.
The Ladyjacks kick off the year on February 10th in Starkville, Miss. for the Mississippi State Tournament, where SFA's opponents will be Western Kentucky, Georgia State, and Mississippi State. The next week, the Ladyjack team will take the short drive to College Station on February 17th-19th, where they will face Texas A&M, New Mexico, and Missouri State for the Texas A&M Tournament.
From there, the Ladyjacks will have a double-header on February 22nd against Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss. SFA will wrap up February in Mobile Ala. for the South Alabama Invitational from the 24th- 26th. There they will collide with Middle Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, and South Alabama.
The beginning of March will see the first softball series in Nacogdoches as the Ladyjacks host Texas Southern on the 1st. SFA will return the favor and travel Houston for the third game of the series on the 8th. The last big tournament Dickson and her team will take on is the Mizzou Tournament up in Columbia, Mo. on March 3rd-5th. The opponents will be Butler, Missouri, Maryland, and Oregon.
Southland Conference play begins on March 10th when the Ladyjacks will start a three-game conference series against nine of the other 11 league members. SFA begins conference on the road against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (March 10-11), and then SFA will host Nicholls (March 17-18), Lamar (24-25), Houston Baptist (April 13-14), and Incarnate Word (21-22). The Ladyjacks will travel to play Sam Houston State (March 31-April 1), Central Arkansas (April 7-8), McNeese (April 28-29), and finish the season with Abilene Christian (May 5-6).
The Ladyjacks will break up their league season with a single game in Arlington against UTA on March 15th, a game with Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La. on March 28, and one in Denton against North Texas. SFA will have single home matchups with Louisiana Monroe on March 22nd and University of Houston on April 11th.
The 2017 Southland Conference Tournament, held this year in Conway, Arkansas, will start on May 10th. SFA will look to be one of six teams invited to compete for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
"As a team, it's about getting experience playing together and improving week to week, especially with a competitive pre-season schedule facing top SEC programs," finished Dickson. "Also being confident in our abilities and preparation, and competing with a no fear mentality every single game."
-SFA-
