Kent State Releases Challenging 2017 Softball Schedule
12/22/2016 4:56:00 PM | Softball
KENT, Ohio – The Kent State University softball team will face one of the most challenging non-conference slates in program history, as head coach Eric Oakley announced the team's 2017 schedule on Thursday.
The two-time defending Mid-American Conference regular season champions are scheduled for 56 contests, which include 11 home games at the Diamond at Dix and a 24-game conference season. The Golden Flashes will visit eight states out of Ohio, stretching from California on the West Coast to Florida in the southeastern part of the country.
The non-conference portion of the schedule is highlighted by 10 games against 6 teams that played in the NCAA Tournament and combined for 21 postseason wins last season. Five of these games will be against teams that reached the 2016 Women's College World Series as the Flashes will play Michigan four times in addition to a matchup with 2012 National Champion Alabama. Both programs have advanced to the WCWS in three of the past four years. Out of 32 non-conference contests, 18 will be played against an opponent that won at least 30 games a year ago.
"We are very excited about our schedule this year," Oakley said. "With our returning players, and the talent level of our newcomers, we felt this was a good year to challenge ourselves by playing some of the top teams in the country. The MAC gets more competitive every year and had four teams finish with a top 100 RPI last year. Playing teams like Alabama, Kentucky, Oregon and Michigan will hopefully train us to bring our best game, every game, and prepare us for the marathon of conference play."
Kent State will head south to open the program's 42nd season at the Mercer Invitational, which will be held Feb. 10-12. Â The Flashes will play five games over three days, beginning with in-state foe Dayton, followed by host Mercer immediately after. The weekend will conclude with a matchup against Portland State and two games against Murray State.
The Flashes will play in the prestigious Mary Nutter Classic the following weekend (Feb. 17-19) in Cathedral City, California. An Oregon team that was a game away from its third straight trip to the WCWS this past June will await Kent State in its first game of the tournament. The Flashes will then play San Diego and Saint Mary's out of the West Coast Conference before facing another NCAA Tournament participant out of the Pac-12 in California. The weekend finale will be against Arkansas out of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Kent State then heads to the Madeira Beach Invitational (Feb. 24-26). The five-game slate includes matchups against two teams, Army West Point and Manhattan, that finished second in their league standing last season. The Flashes will also play Albany, Columbia and Stony Brook as part of the tournament in the Sunshine State.
Following a weekend off, the Flashes will head to the University of Kentucky for their final preseason tournament (March 10-12) to begin what will be the most vigorous stretch of the season. After playing Drexel in its tournament opener, Kent State will play 7 of its next 12 games against teams that won at least 45 games in 2016. The Flashes will play the host Wildcats in their home opener at John Cropp Stadium immediately following the contest vs. the Dragons. Kent State is scheduled to play Evansville in its first game on Saturday before a rematch with Kentucky later in the day. Michigan will be Kent State's final opponent of the tournament on Sunday as the first of four straight games against the nine-time defending Big Ten Conference regular season champions. The Flashes will visit Ann Arbor the following weekend for a doubleheader on Saturday (March 18), with the potential rubber match on Sunday (March 19). A mid-week trip to Pitt on March 22 will be the final tune-up before starting conference play with a three-game series on March 24. The Flashes will then take advantage of spring break and travel to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama on March 28.
Kent State will then play a doubleheader at Evansville on March 29 as it makes its way to Central Michigan for the second weekend series (March 31-April 1) of the conference season to wrap-up the spring break trip.
The home opener will be April 4 when Kent State hosts Ohio for a rare mid-week conference doubleheader. The twinbill starts a stretch of 8 of 9 games at the Diamond at Dix for the Flashes, as they welcome Northern Illinois and Miami for three-game series the following two weekends. Kent State heads to Athens on April 12 to conclude the season series with the Bobcats.
Kent State then hits the road for its next 11 games. In addition to conference series at Akron (April 21-22) and Buffalo (April 28-29), the Flashes will play non-conference doubleheaders against Saint Francis [Pa.] (April 19) and Youngstown State (April 25). The final non-conference contest will be played at Ohio State on May 3.
The regular season will come to an end at the Diamond at Dix for the fourth straight year as Kent State hosts Bowling Green in the final conference series (May 5-6).
The 2017 MAC Softball Championship will be played at Firestone Stadium in Akron from May 10-13. The tournament is double-elimination with the winner receiving the conference's automatic bid to NCAA Regionals.
For the latest on the Kent State softball program, follow @KentStSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at KentStateSports.com.Â
