SAN ANTONIO — Twenty-one home games, nine contests against NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago and the annual UTSA Classic highlight the 2015 UTSA softball schedule, which was announced by second-year head coach Michelle Cheatham on Monday.
“Our team is very excited about the upcoming season,” Cheatham said. “We put together a strong schedule this spring and I look forward to watching our players learn and grow with each challenge that they face. Our four early-season tournaments feature some great competition that will help prepare us for another year in Conference USA.”
The campaign will open from Feb. 6-8 at the Hotel Encanto Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M., where the Roadrunners will face Colorado State, Montana, Nebraska, Texas Tech and tournament host New Mexico State.
UTSA then will take the short drive north for the CenturyLink Classic in San Marcos from Feb. 13-15. The Roadrunners will face off against Grand Canyon, I-35 rival Texas State and Texas Tech.
The home slate opens with a Feb. 18 contest against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before the Roadrunners welcome Incarnate Word, Iowa State and Southeastern Louisiana for the annual UTSA Classic from Feb. 20-22. A Feb. 25 contest with Houston Baptist will close the seven-game home stand.
The Roadrunners then will take to the road again for eight consecutive tilts, including games against Boston, Illinois State and Texas A&M at the Texas A&M Invitational from Feb. 27-March 1 in College Station. The event will give UTSA one more tune-up before a three-game series to start Conference USA action the following weekend at Southern Miss (March 7-8).
Remaining non-conference dates include home contests against McNeese State (March 11) and Stephen F. Austin (March 17), while UTSA will take to the road for games at Texas (March 24), Lamar (April 1), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (April 15), Houston Baptist (April 22) and Baylor (April 29), which came within a game of reaching the Women’s College World Series final last season.
UTSA, which is in its second season as a member of C-USA, will host a league series against Charlotte (March 14-15), UAB (March 21-22), UTEP (April 18-19) and Louisiana Tech (May 2-3).
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners will travel for conference sets at Middle Tennessee (March 28-29), North Texas (April 10-11) and Florida Atlantic (April 25-26).
The league’s top eight teams will convene in Miami, Fla., for the 2015 Conference USA Tournament, which will be contested from May 7-9 at FIU Stadium.