Fresno State softball head coach Linda Garza has released the 2020 softball schedule, according to a Fresno State Athletics news release.
The Bulldogs will face a highly competitive schedule that includes 25 home games and three home tournaments.
The 2020 season will feature 14 teams that earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament last season and two opponents (Florida and Washington) that played in the Women’s College World Series (WCWS). The Bulldogs will also face one team that played in the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) last year.
“This year’s schedule will put us against some of the top teams in the country as well as experience some places this squad has never been,” Garza said in the release. “I’m excited about who we play, the strength of schedule and the quality opponents we face. Our goal remains the same — face top competition, compete for a Mountain West Championship and earn our 34th trip to the NCAA Championship.”
Five teams out of the 2020 schedule finished the 2019 season ranked in the national Top-25. Those teams being Washington, Florida, Texas, Michigan and South Florida.
The Bulldogs will also compete against Mountain West opponents that also made it to the NCAA Tournament (Boise State and Colorado State).
The Bulldogs will open the 2020 season with a cross country trip to the South Florida Tournament from Feb. 7 to 9. Fresno State will compete in games featuring Georgia State, South Florida, Illinois State, Florida and Michigan.
The first of three home tournaments is the Fresno State Kick-Off Classic as Cal Poly, Fordham, St. Mary’s, Cal and Stanford will compete in 13 games at Margie Wright Diamond on Feb.14-16. Fresno State’s home opener will be against Cal Poly on Feb. 14.
The second home tournament will be just days after the Fresno State Kick-Off Classic as UC Santa Barbra, University of Illinois Chicago, Ohio State and Pacific will compete in the Fresno State Invitation on Feb. 20-23.
The last home tournament is the Bulldog Classic. BYU, East Carolina, UC Davis and 2019 NCAA participant North Dakota State will all be featured starting on March 5-8.
Fresno State will open its Mountain West Conference play on the road in a series against Boise State starting on March 13.
