University of Houston Athletics
Softball Continues to Increase Competition with 2011 Schedule
1/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Complete Schedule in PDF Format 
Jan. 5, 2011
HOUSTON - The University of Houston softball program officially announced the 2011 schedule Wednesday morning.
Known for her focus on playing elite competition in order to set the highest expectations for her program, head coach Kyla Holas has created one of the more challenging schedules in recent history. The Cougars are slated to face 11 NCAA Tournament Regional teams and two Super Regional teams from a year ago, including NCAA Women's College World Series Champion UCLA.
Ten opponents lined up for UH finished the 2010 season either receiving votes or one of the top-25 teams on the ESPN/USA Today's final poll.
"That's something as the head coach of this program, that I've set out to do from the very beginning," Holas said. "That's the type of schedule we want to play, that's where we want to be. You just don't get there playing it safe and only playing teams in the 100-150 (RPI) range."
The Cougars will play host for their first eight games of the season as a part of the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational, Feb. 11-13 and the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic, Feb. 18-20.
Ohio, Southern Illinois, Stephen F. Austin and Michigan, last year's No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, will each face Houston and each other in the opening weekend of play.
In the following weekend at home, UH will take on NCAA Tournament teams LSU and Oklahoma State in the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic. The Tigers ended the year ranked No. 19 after a 45-16 season, while the Cowgirls posted one less win and finished in the No. 23 spot.
Southern University and Nicholls State will also take the opposite dugout against the Cougars during the weekend of Feb. 18-20, giving UH two-straight weekends of home field advantage.
"It's nice," Holas said of opening the season at home. "They get to go to class when a lot of teams are traveling. We get to have our parents here to help us work through some of the early season jitters. It works out a lot of times to our advantage, because they do tend to be some of the harder tournaments we play. A lot of those northern teams want to come this way because of the weather. We're hoping to be good hosts to them, but we always like to think it's an advantage."
UH will play its first road game on Feb. 22 in a doubleheader at Sam Houston State before traveling to Waco, Texas for the Cougars' first trip to Baylor's Getterman/STI Invitational. The Big 12 power will bring in Central Arkansas, Louisiana-Monroe and Sam Houston State to its annual classic.
Baylor's tournament will serve as the final tune-up before the Cougars head west to face elite competition at the San Diego State Invitational. Of the seven teams attending the tournament, three of them played in the NCAA Tournament last season - including NCAA Women's College World Series Champion UCLA.
Houston will begin the March 3-5 tournament against BYU and wrap up the day against tournament host and 2010 NCAA Regional team, San Diego State. The ladies will get an early start on day two, as they play the first two games of the day against Fresno State and Long Beach State.
Houston will save its tallest task for the final game of the tournament. The Cougars will square off against the UCLA Bruins on March 5 at 9 a.m.
This will mark the Cougars first trip back to California since posting a 3-1 record at the Cathedral City Kickoff in February 2009. With several Californians on the roster as well as continuing to expand her recruiting network in California, Holas has plenty of motivation to return to the Golden State.
"We haven't been to this area and we'll be playing teams we haven't been playing," Holas said. "We are excited about it. We're also a little nervous, but hoping we can put on a good showing. I like that the tournament is so late. I'm hoping we'll be a little more seasoned by then and have some of the jitters worked out. We're going to do everything we can, and hopefully have played enough games by then that we can put our best foot forward."
No breaks await them as the Cougars return from California and head to Austin, Texas to face Texas, an NCAA tournament qualifier and ranked team from a year ago. The Longhorns finished the 2010 season in the No. 18 spot with a 43-15 record.
Two days later, the Cougars open the Conference USA season at home against UAB on March 12-13. The Blazers finished fourth in the standings, just one spot higher than the Cougars in 2010.
A midweek doubleheader at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on March 15 kicks off a 10-game road trip. UH travels to Tennessee for the Memphis series March 19-20. The Tigers finished seventh in conference last season, and the Cougars took all three games.
A long month on the road in March will transition into a home-heavy schedule in April and May. During the first weekend of April, Houston will welcome Marshall to Cougar Softball Field and stay home for the midweek match-up against Houston Baptist on April 9.
"For us, conference isn't too bad," Holas said about the travel schedule. "They do try to break up some of those tough places that there are to go to. It's a long bus ride to ECU, Southern Miss and Marshall. So anytime we can break those up, it's nice. This does tend to be our homestand year. All those teams come to us this year. Next year, we'll go back to them."
UTEP, who finished sixth behind Houston in the 2010 standings, will play host to the Cougars on April 9-10 before the ladies take their turn as host against Baylor on April 12. It will mark the third scheduled meeting between the two this season.
The Cougars will wrap up the last three series of the conference season against last year's top-three teams. Houston brings in Tulsa on April 16-17. A rainout cut the series to two games last season, and the Cougars will be looking to avenge the pair of losses suffered to the Golden Hurricane.
Texas A&M comes to town for the Striking Out Breast Cancer game on April 20. The Aggies finished the 2010 campaign ranked 20th. That match-up is the final midweek game of the season and will prepare the Cougars for their three-game set at defending C-USA Champion, East Carolina. Houston took the regular-season series, 2-1, but the Pirates knocked off the Cougars in the C-USA Tournament to earn the split on the year.
UCF comes to Houston for the Cougars' final games of the regular season, May 7-8.
The Pirates of ECU will play host to the 2011 Conference USA Softball Tournament on May 13-15. Houston will be hunting for its third regular-season and second championship titles, and using another difficult schedule to prepare for each goal.
"I think it's a good schedule and one of the tougher ones, just looking at some of the rankings," Holas said. "But that's what we want to do every year. That's the schedule we have to play and what we're here to do."
Houston will open its season on Feb. 11 against the Michigan Wolverines in the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational. The first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Cougar Softball Stadium.
General admission season tickets are available for only $75. Each season-ticket package will include one (1) ticket for each regular season home date. The season ticket holder may use one (1) ticket to each game or multiple tickets to fewer games.
Tickets are available by clicking here, by calling the UH Ticket Office at (713) GO-COOGS (462-6647) or by coming to the Ticket Office in the Athletics/Alumni Center during regular business hours.
