UHV releases 2010-11 softball schedule
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| Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American third baseman Allison Hinton (4) is one of eight players back in the 2011 season for the University of Houston-Victoria softball team. Also returning are pitcher Emily Bergstrom (13), and infielder Araceli Galindo (8). |
After notching their 100th victory in school history during the 2010 season, the University of Houston-Victoria Jaguars softball team is set to open the 2011 season with a number of new faces and some new opponents.
The Jaguars will play two fall tournaments and have added an NCAA Division I and Division III foe to their spring schedule.
“I think this schedule stacks up pretty well to those in the past and the addition of a couple more NCAA teams will also help us,” UHV head coach Keri Lambeth said.
Lambeth will get a chance to preview her team, which will include 13 new faces along with eight returnees, during two fall tournaments in October.
The Jaguars open with the Spring-Klein Fall Classic on Oct. 2-3 in Spring and wrap up the fall with the Sugar Land College Classic on Oct. 9-10.
UHV will face San Jacinto College, McNeese State University, Alvin College and Texas State University in the Spring-Klein tournament, while going up against St. Edward’s (Navy), Texas State, Blinn College, San Jacinto College and Alvin College in the Sugar Land tournament.
“We’re going to look at this as an opportunity to build team chemistry on the field,” Lambeth said of the fall tournaments. “This will definitely show us what we have to work on for the spring.”
The regular season opens Feb. 4-5 at the Galveston tournament, followed by the Jaguars first home series against Texas Southern on Feb. 11 with a 1 and 3 p.m. doubleheader.
Texas Southern will be one of four NCAA Division I teams the Jaguars will face this year. The Jaguars will also meet old foes Prairie View A&M and Houston Baptist, along with newcomer to the schedule, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Jaguars will meet the Islanders in a doubleheader on March 16 in Corpus Christi.
UHV has also added NCAA Division III foe Concordia-Austin to its schedule and will meet the Tornadoes on April 5 in Austin.
“We try to schedule difficult teams because our philosophy here is -if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best – and we take great pride in our scheduling so we can be the best in the NAIA,” Lambeth said.
The Jaguars will have eight home doubleheaders and again host a tournament on April 22-23 with Texas Wesleyan and Texas Southern in the field. UHV will end the regular season at Houston Baptist on April 30.
This year’s Association of Independent Institutions conference tournament will be held May 5-7 in San Diego, Calif., while the NAIA National Championship tournament will be held May 19-25 in Orange Beach, Ala.
Softball season passes are now on sale at the UHV Athletics Office, located in Room 122 of the University Center, 3007 N. Ben Wilson. All seating at Burdge Field is general admission. In lieu of the economy, UHV has scaled back its season pass prices to $40 for purchases before Dec. 31, 2010.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
