California State University Northridge Athletics
CSUN Softball Reveals 2023 Schedule
11/29/2022 1:34:00 PM | Softball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN softball coach Charlotte Morgan announced the 2023 Matadors' schedule on Thursday. The 52-game slate features 11 teams that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
"We have a great schedule in front of us this season, and we couldn't be more excited to take it on," Morgan said. "We will be challenged early and often, and we are ready for whatever comes our way!"
The season opens at the Feb. 9-11 San Diego State Kickoff Tournament. CSUN faces three 2022 tournament teams in Arizona State, the host Aztecs, and Notre Dame, in addition to taking on Memphis and Northern Illinois.
Week two sees the Matadors travel to the California Baptist Tournament Feb. 17-19, where CSUN will play Colorado State, the host Lancers, and Pacific before the teams are seeded in pool play to conclude the weekend.
The Matadors travel to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Feb. 23-25, where CSUN faces three teams, Texas A&M, Oregon State, and Ohio State, that advanced to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. The Matadors saw Oregon State twice last season before the Beavers went to the Women's College World Series. The fourth opponent at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Iowa, a traditional Big 10 power.
March begins at the University of Arizona Tournament Mar. 4-5. CSUN will face three teams, Weber State, Nebraska, and the host Wildcats, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Arizona earned a spot in Oklahoma City, where the Wildcats went 1-2 at the WCWS.
The final non-conference tournament is set for Mar. 10-11 when CSUN heads to Northern California for the Santa Clara/San José Tournament, where the Matadors will play two games at Santa Clara and two at SJSU. CSUN opens at home Mar. 14 when the Matadors host Colgate for a single game that begins at 1 p.m.
Big West play for CSUN opens at Cal Poly Mar. 18-19. The league home opener is Mar. 24-25 against Hawai'i, with Long Beach State traveling to Northridge the following weekend (Mar. 31-Apr. 1).
CSUN travels to defending conference champion Cal State Fullerton Apr. 7-8 before coming home for a series against UC Davis Apr. 14-15. The Matadors host the University of San Diego in a single game on Apr. 19. CSUN heads to UC Riverside on Apr. 22-23 before closing non-conference play against UCLA on Apr. 25. The single game against the 2022 Women's College World Series participant is a 3 p.m. start.
CSUN hosts CSU Bakersfield Apr. 28-29 before traveling for the final time in conference play May 5-6 at UC San Diego. The Tritons were the other Big West school to advance to post-season last season as they participated in the NISC Tournament. The regular season closes May 12-13 with a home series against UC Santa Barbara.
The Matadors return 15 letterwinners led by sophomore Mikayla Carman, a second-team All-Conference and Big West All-Freshman Team selection a year ago. Fellow sophomore Kaylee Escutia earned honorable mention All-Conference honors and joined Carman on the All-Freshman team in 2022. In addition, CSUN welcomes 12 newcomers to the program in 2023.
"We have a lot of new faces on top of a lot of veterans coming back this season as well," Morgan said. "We want to learn from our successes and failures and continue to grow going
into conference and get tougher with each opponent we face. We will continue to stay hungry and work hard to compete at our standard in each practice, scrimmage, and competition. We look forward to seeing the growth of our players and our program in every phase of the season."
~#TeamOneYou #StayHungry~
