ABILENE, TX – Tarleton Softball is gearing up for its inaugural Division I season, as head coach Mark Cumpian announced the 2021 schedule this week.
The Texans are scheduled to play 49 games this season, 18 of which are Western Athletic Conference (WAC) games. Thirteen of the team’s contests will take place at the Tarleton Softball Complex, while 19 of the 36 away games will be during tournaments.
“This schedule is a big challenge but one I think our team is capable of playing and ready to compete at a high level,” said Cumpian. “We were able to put a schedule together that will allow us to play close to home for almost all of the games, even though we are playing a lot of tournaments and road games to start the season. I’m excited to see this team compete at the next level and come Feb. 12, we’ll be ready.”
Tarleton begins the season with a tournament on Feb. 12-14 at future WAC rival Abilene Christian where the Texans will take on UTEP, Utah Valley, Oklahoma and ACU. The matchup with UTEP on Friday, Feb. 12, will be the Texans’ Division I opener. The Texans will also play in tournaments at North Texas, Frisco, Louisiana Tech and the University of Texas where the Texans will face Texas, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Louisiana Tech and others.
“We feel like we’re going to get good teams in all of these tournaments,” said Cumpian. “We’ll have quality Division I opponents and a few top-5 teams in a couple of the tournaments. We feel like they will get us ready for the long run in Division I. It’ll help our team get better early in the season so when we get to April, we feel like we’re going to compete very well in Western Athletic Conference play.”
The home opener for the Texans is against Prairie View A&M with a doubleheader on Feb. 24. Tarleton plays 21 of the first 23 games on the road this season.
Tarleton will make its WAC debut on April 2 with a doubleheader against Dixie State in St. George, Utah. The Texans will play a three-game series over the span of two days for each WAC opponent.
The Texans’ home WAC series will be against California Baptist (April 9-10), Seattle U (April 23-24) and Grand Canyon (April 30-May 1). In addition to Dixie State, the road series will be at New Mexico State (April 16-17) and Utah Valley (May 7-8).
Tarleton’s non-conference schedule outside of tournaments includes a home-and-home series with Prairie View A&M and home games with ACU and UNT. Road non-conference games are at Texas, Incarnate Word, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State and Sam Houston.
