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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Softball Takes On Rigorous Schedule in 2012
11/22/2011 12:00 AM | Softball
Nov. 22, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY - A schedule that includes 27 games against 12 opponents who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season awaits the University of Utah softball team during the upcoming 2012 season, its first as a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
"We look forward to everything about our challenging schedule," Utah head coach Amy Hogue said. "We want to play the best teams and the Pac-12 is arguably the best conference in the country. We want to see how high of a level we can compete at. We plan to keep the focus on us and improving as a team, just like we've always done."
The Utes begin their 2012 season in Tempe, Ariz., at the Kajikawa Classic Feb. 10-12, beginning against former Mountain West Conference foe San Diego State. Utah then faces Western Michigan, UC Santa Barbara and Portland State.
Utah makes its annual trek down to Las Vegas for the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic on Feb. 17-19. The Utes open with a doubleheader against San Jose State and Indiana on Feb. 17, then take on Portland State, UC Riverside and Cal State Northridge.
The UNC Greensboro Spartan Classic will be held Feb. 24-26 in Greensboro, N.C. The Utes start with Drexel and host UNCG on Feb. 24, then face Rider on Feb. 25 before playing two games against opponents determined by bracket play.
The month of March begins with a trip to Albuquerque, N.M., Mar. 3-4 for the New Mexico Invitational. The Utes will play North Dakota twice, CSU Bakersfield once and the host Lobos in a single game.
A Deseret First Duel single game against BYU will open Utah's home schedule on Mar. 7 at 3 p.m.
The early-season tournament schedule concludes with six games at the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament Mar. 9-12. Utah will take on Georgetown and FGCU on the opening day, Howard and Stony Brook on Mar. 10, then wrap up the event with a doubleheader against Colgate on Mar. 12.
A single game in Salt Lake City against Southern Utah on Mar. 21 at 4 p.m., will serve as Utah's tune-up to Pac-12 play.
"It's fair to say that the schedule has flip-flopped," Hogue said. "The amount of nationally-ranked teams in the second half of our season this year is a whole lot greater than the first half and usually we do the polar opposite. We put up some good numbers against the ranked opponents that we faced last preseason. We averaged close to eight hits and four runs a game against the seven ranked we faced the first three weeks last year. We will tally some wins this year if we can put up numbers like that throughout a weekend series in the Pac-12. I'm excited to face the best teams in the country at the end of the season instead of right out of the gate like we are used to doing."
Utah's league slate in its inaugural Pac-12 slate features 21 games against six different opponents ranked in the top 25 of the last NFCA Coaches Poll last season. The Utes travel to Seattle to face Washington Mar. 23-25.
"I'm anxious to see how this team handles playing a three-game series against Pac-12 opponents," Hogue said. "I hope we gain some confidence as a team and have a bunch of wins under our belt before we have our Pac-12 opening game against Washington. In the past it's been pretty easy to get hyped up for a single game against a Pac-12 opponent in a preseason tournament, but I have no idea how facing Pac-12 competition three days in a row in a weekend is going to play out. We are a team that has typically gotten stronger as the weekend goes on because I think we've done well at assessing and adjusting from game to game. We have been a tough team to beat twice in a row, so I'm anxious to see how well we can compete on day two and day three against the best teams out there."
After the Washington series, the Utes host 2011 College World Series participant California (Apr. 5-7), travel to perennial top-10 Arizona (Apr. 10-11) and return to Salt Lake City for three games against Oregon (Apr. 13-15), which reached the NCAA Super Regional last season.
"This will be the toughest stretch of the season," Hogue said. "We have nine Pac-12 games in 11 days. If we can come out of that with our heads above water, then I believe we can survive anything. That's going to be a killer week and a half, but it's clear that we have three talented starting pitchers that we can lean on and I like that two of those three series are going to be played at home We will need to have depth on the mound and healthy bodies to be able to handle that stretch."
The Utes' Pac-12 schedule the rest of the way plays out like: at UCLA (Apr. 20-22), at home against Oregon State (Apr. 27-29), at reigning national champion Arizona State (May 4-6) and hosting Stanford (May 10-12).
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