The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Softball Announces 2014 Schedule
11.20.2013 | Softball
Longhorns will face nine teams that reached the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
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AUSTIN, Texas – Coming off one of its most successful seasons in program history, Texas Softball has announced the slate for its 18th season of varsity competition. Head coach Connie Clark's squad, going for its fifth Big 12 regular season title, will face nine teams that reached the 2013 NCAA postseason, including three of the eight Women's College World Series participants. The complete schedule can be viewed by clicking the link above. TV assignments will be announced at a later date.
The 2014 campaign officially gets underway Feb. 6 in Baton Rouge, La., where the Longhorns will take on Louisiana State. From there, UT will make its way to Louisiana-Lafayette for a three-day tournament. The Burnt Orange will then return to the Forty Acres for their 2014 home opener on Feb. 12 against UTSA.
UT will host 27 games at Red & Charline McCombs Field, including a pair of tournaments during the weekends of Feb. 14-16 and Feb. 28-March 2. The Longhorns will also travel to three tournaments, going to Lafayette, La. (Lafayette Louisiana Tournament), Palm Springs, Calif. (Mary Nutter Classic) and Fullerton, Calif. (Judi Garman Classic).
In all, Texas will square off against eight squads that ended the 2013 season ranked or receiving votes in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association final poll and four that finished in the top 15. The Longhorns will also have rematches against three of the teams (Arizona State, Michigan and Oklahoma) they faced during last year's Women's College World Series run. UT is slated to play at least 36 of their 53 regular-season games versus teams that finished 2013 with a winning record.
Before diving into conference play, the Longhorns will play their first three-game series against Iowa (March15-17) and will have a midweek contest against Houston on March 19.
The quest for a fifth Big 12 Conference Championship gets underway March 22 when the Longhorns travel to Waco to battle Baylor March 22 and March 23. The third game of the series will be played in Austin on the final day of the 2014 regular season (May 11).
During league play, the Longhorns will also host Texas Tech (April 4-6), Oklahoma State (April 25-27) and Kansas (May 2-4), while making visits to Iowa State (April 11-13) and to 2013 Women's College World Series' Champion Oklahoma (April 17-19).
UT returns six starting position players and 12 letterwinners from last year's team, which posted a 51-10 overall record and finished the season ranked No. 3 in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball final polls. The Longhorns also welcome a total of seven freshmen to their squad.