Softball Announces 2006 Schedule
12/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
CONWAY, S.C. - Six in-season tournaments, 31 home games at the CCU Softball Field, and 13 games against 2005 NCAA Tournament teams highlight the 2006 Coastal Carolina softball schedule, head coach Jess Dannelly announced today (Dec. 1).
The Chanticleers will begin the season hosting their first tournament of the season. Coastal welcomes in Tennessee on Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. in the first game of the CCU Tournament. Tennessee is coming off a season where they advanced all the way to the Women’s College World Series, where it fell to eventual national champion Michigan to finish third nationally. The nightcap for the evening will be a match up against Illinois State at 7 p.m.. Coastal will play each of these teams on Feb. 11 as well to round out the tournament.
Coastal then heads to the road to play in the Triangle Classic, where it takes on Minnesota, Toledo and host school North Carolina Feb. 17-19.
The Chants return home to host its second tournament of the season, the Myrtle Beach Chevrolet/CCU Softball Classic, with Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Minnesota on the docket Feb. 24-26.
A trip to the Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on Drake, Ohio State and Alabama, March 3-5, highlights the second road tournament of the season. USC Upstate comes to Conway for a doubleheader, March 7, before Coastal heads to Clearwater, Fla., to play in the USF-Adidas Spring Break Invitational, March 9-12. The competition is stiff with Illinois, Central Michigan, Fordham, Virginia Tech and Tennessee-Chattanooga among the teams in CCU’s pool.
The Chants continue the road show with a doubleheader against UNC Wilmington, March 15 at 4 p.m., before the start of conference play with a twin bill against the Big South’s representative in the NCAA Tournament a season ago, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, March 17 at 3 p.m., in Conway, S.C.
A pair of doubleheader home matchups against Gardner-Webb and North Florida on back to back days, March 21-22 are to be played by the Chanticleers before the last road tournament of the season, the ECU Classic, March 24-26. That tournament, as hosted by East Carolina, features Penn State, Buffalo and Kent State.
The road trip continues with double dips against Campbell, March 28, and conference foe Birmingham-Southern, April 2.
The Chants return home for a brief four-game stand against nonconference opponents College of Charleston (April 4) and North Carolina State (April 6) before heading to Elon, N.C. to take on the Elon, April 11.
The Chants begin its longest home stand of season with a doubleheader against South Carolina, April 13 at 5 p.m. Three home conference doubleheaders against Charleston Southern (April 15), Liberty (April 22) and Radford (April 23) are sandwiched around the second home twin bill of the season against College of Charleston (April 19). The last home games of the season are a pair of games against UNC Wilmington, April 26 at 4 p.m.
CCU finishes the 2006 regular season as it travels to Rock Hill, S.C. to take on the host Winthrop Eagles in doubleheader, May 7 at 2 p.m.
The Big South Tournament, which is in Radford, Va., is set to take place May 11-13.
"This schedule will certainly challenge us this season," Dannelly said. " This is both the toughest schedule and home slate I’ve had here in all my years of coaching. I’m excited about the possibilities this season, and I know that this schedule will help prepare us for Big South play and hopefully beyond."
Coastal is coming off a 24-25 season, where it placed third in the Big South Tournament and brings 15 letterwinners back from a season ago.
