Like I mentioned in the baseball companion entry, the Christmas season took priority over my hobbies. Like the baseball team, the UT Arlington softball team released their schedule for the upcoming season. Unlike their baseball counterparts, the Mav softballers have some local teams and big names coming to Arlington.
The season starts with four games, two each against Texas Tech and Tulsa in Arlington. Two good tests against two good teams to start the season.
The next week, they go north to Denton. The UTA site shows three games. The North Texas website shows the Green playing six games and when I check the Tracy Beard Classic website, there are six teams. No official schedule, but the teams include UTA, North Texas, Kentucky, McNeese State, Sam Houston State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Interesting that the six teams represent four conferences. I wonder if they will play each other or if there's scheduling agreements to avoid it.
The following weekend, UTA heads to San Marcos (yea!) to face Texas State twice, UTSA, Kansas and Colorado State. The softball team and men's basketball squad are the only team to play Texas State after sharing three conferences consecutively over the course of three and a half decades.
The first midweek game is a short trip south to Waco for a game against Baylor. After a brief hiatus from 2014 to '18, the Mavs and Bears have played at least one game a year since. UTA has won four of the last six, but Baylor still holds the all-time series record comfortably, 60-35.
The next weekend tournament comes in Arlington as UTA plays two games each against Rider, Kansas City (formerly U of Missouri KC) and one game against Lamar, another long-time Southland Conference rival.
The first home midweek game sees the Longhorns from UT-Austin at Allan Saxe Field. Credit to their softball team, as this will be the tenth time they have visited Arlington, against 20 games in Austin. Football and men's basketball have never played UTA in Arlington. Women's basketball saw the Longhorns at home once in 1979. Baseball hasn't technically hosted UT-Austin, but Globe Life Field saw a UTA victory over their UT System brethren in 2015.
The Mavs take the weekend off before going to Western Athletic Conference rival Utah Valley for a mid-week game. It's not technically a WAC game and won't count as one in the standings. Neither were on the conference schedule against the other, so UTA likely added that game as they open WAC play nearby at Southern Utah for a three-game series.
Baylor makes a return trip to Arlington in between WAC series'. The Lancers from California Baptist hosts UTA for the second conference series. Other road series come later against Stephen F. Austin State and New Mexico State.
North Texas comes to UTA for the only midweek game between the two. UTA owns the overall series 44-24, but UNT has claimed four of the last five between the only softball Universities in Dallas/Fort Worth. UTA is looking to reverse an over downward 6-16 trend against the Green.
Home WAC play begins with a three-game set against the Utah Tech Trailblazers. Meanwhile, Abilene Christian, Tarleton State and Sam Houston all make WAC conference series visits to Arlington.
The remaining midweek games include Oklahoma State in Stillwater and McNeese State in Lake Charles.
UTA avoids conference games against Grand Canyon, Seattle and Utah Valley. Unlike near every other sport, there's not one team in the conference we missed that I wish were on the slate.
This is one of the better schedules in the history of the softball program. There's some good names and good teams set to come to Arlington. Of UTA's top 15 most attended games, four of those schools are set to play in Arlington again this year.
The team was a couple of games from an even record last year in a much tougher Sun Belt. Half the team's 30-games-or-more starters are returning. Pitchers Jessica Adams and Gracie Bumpers are returning, which account for 39 of the teams 49 starts from last season and 65 of 96 appearances.
New coach Kara Dill did a heck of a job piecing this one together. With the returning talent and change in conference, there's a good chance UTA will be near the top of the standings. This schedule gives a good opportunity to set a record for attendance, both with some individual games as well as for the whole season. Name teams and winning do both. The schedule certainly sets up both.
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