Texas Tech Announces 2011 Softball Schedule
November 17, 2010 | Softball
Nov. 17, 2010
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech softball program announced its 2011 schedule Wednesday as the Red Raiders will take part in 54 games, including a school record 35 at Rocky Johnson Field.
The Red Raiders will travel to tournaments at Arizona State and Central Florida to go along with four home tournaments in preparation for the always-challenging Big 12 schedule. Tech will face five schools that advanced to the NCAA postseason a year ago during the non-conference slate.
"We feel like this schedule will get us prepared for Big 12 play," second-year head coach Shanon Hays said. "One of the things we wanted to do was play the majority of our schedule at home to give our fans the chance to see us as often as possible. It will be important for us to protect our home field while also taking several games in two tough tournaments at Arizona State and Central Florida."
The Red Raiders begin the season on Feb. 10 against BYU as part of the Arizona State Kajikawa Tournament in Tempe, Ariz. Tech will also face Bradley, California, Indiana, and Appalachian State in the four-day event. Both BYU and Cal advanced to the NCAA Super Regional round last season.
Tech then returns home Feb. 18 for the start of a 25-game homestand as the Red Raiders will host four weekend tournaments during the span along with a midweek doubleheader against New Mexico on March 9.
Utah Valley State and Bryant University open the home tournament schedule as Tech will play three games against both schools in the three-day event. Tech hosts Northern Illinois, St. John's, and Wichita State the following weekend, beginning Feb. 25, playing two games each against the Huskies and Red Storm during the first two days before closing against the Shockers on Feb. 27.
Howard and Dayton travel to Lubbock on March 4-6 to face Tech in three games each. After the doubleheader against New Mexico, the Red Raiders will battle Alcorn State, a regional team a year ago, and Evansville in a three-day event.
Tech closes the non-conference portion of its schedule at the Central Florida Tournament, taking on two postseason teams from a year ago in Long Island and Boston University in between games against Jacksonville, Chattanooga, and Liberty. The tournament runs March 18-20 in Clearwater, Fla. Tech will arrive in Florida a day earlier to face Colorado State on March 17 in a non-tournament matchup.
Tech begins Big 12 play with six-straight games at home, beginning March 26-27 against Missouri. The Oklahoma Sooners come to Lubbock for a weekend series April 2-3, while Baylor will face Tech in a Wednesday doubleheader on April 6.
The Red Raiders make their first true road contest on April 9 at Iowa State before returning home again to face Kansas in an April 13th doubleheader.
Following a road series at Oklahoma State on April 16-17, in-state rival Texas will round out Tech's home schedule with a two-day series April 22-23. With six of its last eight regular season games on the road, Tech travels to Nebraska on April 30 for a two-day series before waiting a week to complete spring finals prior to its May 13-14 series at Texas A&M.
For the first time in Big 12 history, the conference will not host a postseason championship. Instead, the conference regular season champion will receive an automatic NCAA Regional berth.
Tech is coming off one of its best seasons in school history, finishing 38-18 after falling to eventual College World Series participant Hawaii in the championship game of the Stanford Regional. The Red Raiders return 14 letterwinners from last season, including All-Big 12 second team selections Emily Bledsoe, Logan Hall, and Mikey Kenney.
