CSUN Softball Announces 2016 Schedule

Photo by: Juan Ocampo

CSUN Softball Announces 2016 Schedule

1/6/2016 8:25:00 AM | Softball

2015 Big West Champion Matadors Face Tough Slate

By: by Geoffrey Herberg

Complete 2016 Schedule in PDF Format

NORTHRIDGE, CA ---

CSUN softball head coach Tairia Flowers announced the 2016 schedule for the Matadors, the 2015 Big West Champions, on Wednesday. CSUN will play a total of 29 games at Matador Diamond, including match-ups with Florida State, Illinois and Oregon State. The Matadors play a total of 57 games and will host Big West Conference series with Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis.

"We are excited to have compiled another challenging schedule for the 2016 season," Flowers said. "Our preseason tournaments will offer our team a chance to compete against some of the nation's best. As the defending champions, we fully expect to have the target square on our backs for Big West Conference play and look forward to the challenge of defending our title."

For the sixth time in her six-year tenure, Flowers and the Matadors will open their season at the Kajikawa Classic (Feb.12-14) hosted by Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. CSUN will face Creighton, Utah State, California, Oregon State and Stanford at the event with all of the Matadors' games being played at the Tempe Sports Complex.

The second weekend of the season will send CSUN to Las Vegas as it participates in the DeMarini Desert Classic (Feb. 19-21) hosted by UNLV. The Matadors will face Weber State, Portland State, Wichita State, Southern Utah and Utah State at the tournament with the first two days' games played at SLC Park and Sunday's finale on UNLV's campus at Eller Media Stadium.

The third preseason tournament of the season takes CSUN to the prestigious Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic (Feb. 26-28) in Cathedral City, CA. At the event, CSUN will square off with Oregon, Utah, San Diego State, Boise State and Fresno State. All but the Boise State Broncos participated in the 2015 NCAA Tournament and the event is held at the Big League Dreams Sports Park.

The month of March returns CSUN to the friendly confines of Matador Diamond. CSUN and UCLA co-host a tournament the first weekend of the month (Mar. 4-6) and CSUN will host Syracuse, Florida State, CSU Bakersfield and Charleston Southern during the event. The Matadors will also face the Seminoles in a neutral-site game at UCLA's Easton Stadium and multiple non-CSUN games will also be played at Matador Diamond.

CSUN's second home tournament in March (Mar. 10-13) brings Grand Canyon, Toledo, Oregon State and San Diego to the San Fernando Valley. The Matadors will face the Antelopes, Toreros and Beavers once while playing the Rockets twice. Again, multiple non-CSUN games will be held at Matador Diamond throughout the weekend.

The third weekend of March (Mar. 18-20) has CSUN hosting its third tournament of the month. The Matadors will meet up with LMU, Idaho State and Yale during the weekend with two games against the Bulldogs and the Bengals. There will be multiple non-CSUN games at Matador Diamond throughout the weekend.

Before opening Big West play, CSUN will play a home doubleheader against Illinois (Mar. 22) before traveling to Bakerfield (Mar. 29) for a doubleheader with the Roadrunners.

April brings Big West play. CSUN hosts Long Beach State (April 2-3) on the league's opening weekend before heading to Honolulu (April 8-9) for a three-game series with the Rainbow Wahine. The Matadors take a break from Big West play to head to UCLA on April 13 before hosting UC Santa Barbara (April 16-17) in a three-game series at Matador Diamond.

The last two weekends of April send CSUN on the road. First, the Matadors travel to San Luis Obispo, CA (April 23-24) for a three-game series with Cal Poly. CSUN then heads to the Inland Empire for three games (April 30 - May 1) at UC Riverside.

CSUN plays its final six games of the 2016 regular season at Matador Diamond. The first weekend of May brings Cal State Fullerton (May 6-7) to Matador Diamond for a Friday doubleheader and single game on Saturday. The next weekend (May 13-14) brings UC Davis to the San Fernando Valley for three games and Senior Day.

This season, CSUN features four seniors on its 2016 roster: Madalyne Handy, Allison Lacey, Maylynn Mitchell and Ariana Wassmer. Last season, Mitchell earned Second Team All-Big West Conference Honors after batting .317 with 25 runs, 51 hits, nine doubles, a triple, four home runs, 29 RBIs and three stolen bases. As a junior, Wassmer batted .278 with 20 runs, 42 hits, seven doubles, a home run, 22 RBIs, seven sacrifice hits, three sacrifice flies and two stolen bases. Handy has appeared in 93 games and made 39 starts over her CSUN career, totaling 26 hits and 17 runs. Lacey is in her second season with the club and is one of the team's top catchers.

In fact, CSUN returns a hearty portion of its offense for 2016. Juniors Katie Hooper, the 2015 Big West Player of the Year, and Taylor Glover, a two-time First Team All-Big West and NFCA All-Region honoree, are just two pieces at Flowers' disposal. Sophomore Savannah Horvath, the 2015 Big West Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year, also returns as well as letterwinners Taylor Nate, Tara Kliebenstein, Madison Fleming, Rebecca Bell, Daphne Pofek, Aliyah Ricks, Carissa Sherman and Selina Tajalle.

New to the roster in 2016 are five freshmen: Sabrina Garcia, Haileigh Gonzalez, Taylor Troost, Alexis Reyes and Mackenzie Babbitt. Also new to the squad are a pair of junior college transfers from Allen Hancock College, Jessica Rothanzl and Katie Chenault. Both spent two years under the tutelage of CSUN Hall of Famer Scia Maumausolo.