Saluki Softball announces 2016 schedule
11/18/2015 | 12:00:00 | Softball
Schedule | Printable Schedule (PDF)
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois softball program unveiled its 2016 schedule on Wednesday. The Salukis will host the 2016 MVC Championship at Dr. Charlotte West Stadium.
"We believe Dr. Charlotte West Stadium is one of the best in the conference, and we love showcasing it," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "For the kids, it's a great opportunity to focus on academics during finals week and softball right afterwards, and we get to play for our great community and feel their support."
The Salukis will play in five tournaments before Missouri Valley Conference play. SIU opens the season with the Lion Classic (Feb. 12-14), hosted by Southeastern Louisiana, before a pair of weekend tournaments hosted by Florida Gulf Coast (Feb. 19-21) and Stetson (Feb. 26-27).
Southern opens its home schedule with the Coach B Classic on March 5-6 at Charlotte West Stadium. Eastern Illinois, Butler and Kansas are all coming to Carbondale for the tournament. SIU's final pre-conference tournament is the USF UnderArmour Invitational (March 11-13) in Clearwater, Fla.
Non-conference opponents Hofstra, Pittsburgh and Kansas all went to the NCAA Tournament in 2015, with Kansas and Pittsburgh both advancing to the regional final.
"We wanted to play in quality tournaments against quality opponents," Blaylock said. "We wanted a schedule that will allow us to grow before the conference schedule, and we accomplished that."
Southern Illinois will host Loyola (March 19-20) and Illinois State March 25-26) to start the MVC schedule in part of a new conference softball initiative to play the first two weekends at the southern-most schools to reduce the possibility of weather-related cancelations and delays.
The Salukis then head on long road trips at Drake (April 2-3) and Missouri State (April 9-10) before Murray State starts a six-game home stand that includes a three-game set with Indiana State and a doubleheader vs. Evansville. After trips to Bradley (April 23-24) for a three-game series and to Evansville (April 26) for a single game, SIU closes the MVC regular season with a three-game home stand against Northern Iowa (April 30-May 1) and a road trip to Wichita State (May 7-8).
"There are a lot of great teams in this conference, and there are a lot of teams with great players returning from last year," Blaylock said. "We will have a very young team but they are very good players, and we feel good about what this team can accomplish."
Southern Illinois will host the MVC Tournament on May 12-14 at Dr. Charlotte West Stadium. SIU will host from West Stadium for the fourth time since it opened in 2003. SIU also hosted in 2004, 2008 and 2012.