12/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
2016 Coastal Softball Schedule 
CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina University softball team will open the 2016 season on the road at Jacksonville competing against ACC member, NC State and previously top 25 ranked Kansas, in the River City Leadoff tournament. The Chanticleers will host 35 home games which will include three tournaments.
"Our goal is to be the last team standing at the Big South Tournament," said head coach Kelley Green. "That will not be an easy task with the quality of teams in our conference, but we are here to win championships and we will work hard to prepare for that opportunity. Our strong non-conference schedule will help us prepare for our conference opponents and hopefully allow us to have a strong RPI by the end of the year."
Coastal will open at home on February 19 when they take on Appalachian State and Seton Hall as part of the Kickin' Chicken Classic, which also includes Towson and Cleveland State.
The Chants will travel to Columbia for a single game on February 21 for a match up with the South Carolina Gamecocks, then will return home to host the Coastal Carolina Invitational which will include Georgia Southern and Big Ten member Iowa.
For the first time in program history, Coastal will travel to Hawaii to compete in the Malihini Kipa Aloha Invitational March 4-8. They will have three games with Hawaii as well as three games with Stanford over the week.
"This trip is really a once in a lifetime experience together," Green said. "Between our challenging game schedule and site seeing plans, this opportunity will be fantastic for our program."
Following Coastal's trip to Hawaii, they will return home to host its final tournament, the Chanticleer Classic. The tournament will feature Memphis, Buffalo and Furman on March 11-13.
Coastal will open conference play with a series at home taking on Presbyterian March 19 and 20. Before wrapping up conference play for the month of March in a home series versus Liberty on March 25 and 26, Coastal will host ACC member North Carolina March 23.
The team will be on the road for three consecutive conference series in the month of April taking on Radford, Winthrop and Campbell while hosting a doubleheader with Charleston Southern April 13. Coastal then will return home to close out conference play finishing its series against Charleston Southern April 26 with a single game and two series versus Gardner-Webb and Longwood.
"Our conference gets tougher every year and we always have a target on our backs, but our goals are to win the regular season and tournament championships," Green said. "Anything less is a disappointment, as this is the Coastal way. With that said, we know we have a lot of work to do and need to be diligent in our preparation. We cannot get complacent. Our best players need to get 1% better each day and everyone else needs to get 3% better. If we can keep on focusing on the process throughout the winter months and continue this through the season, we should be right where we want to be in May."
The Big South Championships will be held at Winthrop May 11-14. Other nonconference contests include regional matchups hosting South Carolina State on March 30 and College of Charleston on April 6. Coastal will also host UCONN on March 15 and Columbia on March 16.
