Dec. 17, 2012
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Andrew Jennette
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - With spring just around the corner, the UCF softball team is gearing up for another successful season as the squad released its 2013 regular-season schedule Monday. The slate includes 54 total games with 28 contests at the UCF Softball Complex, including two home tournaments, with the Knights' home-opener scheduled for Feb. 13 against North Florida.
Advancing to the Gainesville NCAA Regional this past May and notching the most home victories in program history, head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie's squad will look to make its second-consecutive postseason appearance and fifth since 2005 with another challenging slate against some of the best teams in the nation.
The Knights will play 18 games against 11 teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, including Florida, Florida State, Louisville, Michigan, Texas Tech, Bethune-Cookman, UMass, DePaul (twice) and three-game weekend sets against conference foes Tulsa, Houston and UAB.
UCF welcomes in-state rival Florida State to the softball complex on Feb. 20. The last time the Seminoles paid a visit to Orlando in 2011, the Knights won in walk-off fashion, 2-1, in front of the fourth-largest crowd in school history. Four of the six largest crowds in UCF softball history have come when the Knights battle the Noles.
For the third-consecutive season, the Knights will travel to the west coast early in the season as they open the 2013 campaign Feb. 8-10 at the Sportco Kick-Off Classic in Las Vegas, Nev., against Texas Tech, Louisville, DePaul and host UNLV. The Black and Gold played in tournaments in Los Angeles in 2011 and San Diego in 2012.
The start of our season is very exciting with the level of competition we'll be playing in Las Vegas, Luers-Gillispie said. Texas Tech, Louisville and DePaul were all top-30 RPI programs last year and UNLV is a tough host team. It's going to be a great early season test for us.
In its final season in Conference USA, UCF will host UAB, Marshall, UTEP and Southern Miss while venturing to Houston, Tulsa, and Memphis before ending the regular season at East Carolina. The Knights will be making a return trip to Tulsa for the C-USA championship, which begins May 9, as they aim for their second league title after winning the crown in 2008.