CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston softball program and head coach Shelly Hoerner have announced a 53-game schedule for the 2010 season that features three challenging regular season tournaments, contests against four 2009 NCAA Tournament teams and a 29-game home slate.
The Cougars, who finished 23-26 overall and 14-9 in the Southern Conference last season, will play 28 games at Patriots Point Stadium and 25 on the road with the season kicking off on February 12, 2010. Among the teams that CofC will face during the season are four schools that competed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, including Louisville, Campbell, James Madison and 2009 Southern Conference Champion Chattanooga. The first three of these opponents will visit Patriots Point this season.
THE NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The Cougars open 2010 as they travel to the Palmetto State Showdown, a tournament featuring seven of the nine Division I softball programs in the State of South Carolina. The tournament will be hosted by South Carolina (21-24 in 2009) from February 12-14 in Columbia, S.C. CofC will face the Gamecocks on February 12 at 5 p.m. before facing Coastal Carolina (15-38) and USC Upstate (29-16) the following day and wrapping up with Winthrop (26-20) on February 14.
The College of Charleston returns to Patriots Point to begin their home season with the 2010 Cougar Classic from February 19-21. That tournament will feature two teams that made the 2009 NCAA Tournament in Louisville (48-11) and James Madison (35-16) as well as a solid Akron (35-24) team and Wagner (22-29).
Following that tournament, the Cougars will host three straight non-conference double-headers including Charleston Southern (26-33) on February 23, Campbell (38-16) on February 27 and St. Bonaventure (12-28) on March 3. The games against Campbell will feature a team that has made the last two NCAA Tournaments and recorded a regional victory over North Carolina two years ago.
The Cougars will then hit the road for five games as they travel to Orlando, Florida for the University of Central Florida Tournament from March 5-7. While there, CofC will face Atlantic Coast Conference member Boston College (18-33) and Conference USA's Central Florida (27-27) at 6 and 8 p.m., respectively, on March 5. The following day, the Cougars will take on first-time opponent Harvard (27-17) and will play a rare non-conference game against league foe Georgia Southern (29-25). They then wrap up bracket play with a 9 a.m. game vs. Providence (17-34). The last time CofC played a conference opponent during its non-conference schedule was on March 6, 2005 when they defeated Furman 11-0 at the CSU Invitational.
The College of Charleston will then return home for a double-header against Coastal Carolina on March 14 and a pair of contests with first-time opponent Maryland-Eastern Shore on March 18. The Cougars remaining non-conference games will occur during the conference season as they will play at UNC Wilmington (13-32) on April 13, at Charleston Southern on April 21 and host Presbyterian (18-27) on May 6.
THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
The Cougars will open a 24-game Southern Conference schedule when they host UNC Greensboro (26-33, 9-12) from March 20-21 before heading to Elon (15-32, 6-15) for a three-game series from March 27-28. CofC will continue to alternate home and away series as Samford (21-30, 10-14) visits Patriots Point from April 2-3 before a road trip to Western Carolina (12-35, 7-14) from April 10-11.
Following their non-conference double-header at UNC Wilmington, the College of Charleston hosts Appalachian State (26-29, 14-9) April 17-18 and then takes on Charleston Southern before a road series at Georgia Southern from April 24-25. Three games against Furman (22-29, 11-12) May 1-2 highlights the Cougars final five home games and wraps with the Presbyterian double-header. CofC then concludes the regular season with a trip to two-time defending Southern Conference Champion Chattanooga from May 8-9.
THE 2010 SOUTHERN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
In a change from previous years, the 2010 Southern Conference Tournament will be held at the site of the highest seed and will feature only the top four teams. The tournament will run from May 13-14 and will feature a double-elimination format with the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds meeting in the first round.
The two losing teams will meet in the third game of the tournament while the two winning clubs will face each other in the fourth game with a chance to advance to the championship series. Both of those games will occur on May 13 with the loser of the third game being eliminated and the winner advancing to face the loser of the final game of the day.
That game will take place the morning of May 14 with the winner moving on to face the tournament's only undefeated team in the championship series. That series will consist of up to two games with the team with one loss needing to win both contests and the undefeated team needing to win only one.
The winner will secure the Southern Conference's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Tournament scheduled to begin on May 21.
The Cougars will be seeking their first Southern Conference Tournament Championship since 2005 when they compiled a 53-18 record and won a pair of games in the NCAA Tournament, defeating Virginia Tech twice.
2010 SCHEDULE BY THE NUMBERS
Games: 53
Opponents: 26
Non-Conference Games: 29
Southern Conference Games: 24
Home Games: 28
Road Games: 25
Regular Season Tournaments: 3
Home Regular Season Tournaments: 1