Softball Announces 2018 Spring Schedule

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Head coach Natalie Poole and the University of Memphis softball team announced its 2018 spring schedule Thursday. The Tigers have three home tournaments slated during the month of March as well as three additional tournaments, seven conference series, a home-and-home with Mississippi State and single games against Tennessee and Ole Miss.

"Our schedule both in and out of conference is tough enough to set us up for the post season as long as we do our job winning," said Poole. "We are home again quite a bit this season, which is great for our team as we compete well on our home field. We are hosting three tournaments again and feel that helps our athletes when balancing their academic schedules with competition demands. We are excited about the spring and will be anxiously waiting that first practice day as a team in January."

The season begins on Feb. 9 in Fort Myers, Fla. in the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament. Four games are slated for Memphis in Georgetown, Ball State, Long Island, and ACC opponents N.C. State. Memphis then has two tournaments in the state of Louisiana the following two weekends with competition against two NCAA Tournament teams in Minnesota and Louisiana.

On March 2-4, Memphis will welcome IPFW, Bradley, UL Monroe, and UMKC in the first home tournament of the year. The second tournament on March 9-11 sees the Tigers playing host to Mississippi Valley, Bowling Green, Butler, and Indiana State.

To break up the home tournaments, Memphis will travel to Starkville, Miss. on March 14 to take on Mississippi State in the first game of the home-and-home with the Bulldogs. Mississippi State is another NCAA Tournament team on Memphis' schedule. The final home tournament on March 16-18 welcomes Tennessee Tech, Southeast Missouri, South Dakota and SIU-Edwardsville.

The home game against Mississippi State is scheduled for April 17 at the Tigers Softball Complex.

After traveling to Oxford, Miss. and Martin, Tenn. last season, the Tigers will host Ole Miss on March 20 and UT Martin on March 21.

Conference play for Memphis begins on March 23 with a three-game series on the road at American newcomer Wichita State. In addition to the Shockers, Memphis will travel to East Carolina, UCF, and Houston while hosting USF, UConn, and Tulsa this season.

"Wichita State has a great reputation in softball," added Poole. "In most recent years, they've done really well. It's just going to continue to make our conference better and better. I'm excited about that new addition."

On April 10, Memphis will travel to Columbia, Tenn. to take on Tennessee in a neutral site non-conference game to break up conference play. Additional home non-conference games for Memphis this season include Alcorn State on March 27, Belmont on April 4, and Murray State on April 18.

The season will culminate with the American Athletic Conference Tournament hosted by USF on May 10-12. All eight teams qualify for the conference tournament.

For more information on the Memphis softball team, follow the team on Twitter (@MemphisSoftball) and Facebook (@MemphisSoftball).

University of Memphis Athletics

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