Beaver Softball Releases 2017 Schedule

CORVALLIS, Ore. — The Oregon State softball team and head coach Laura Berg have announced the Beavers' 2017 schedule, a 55-game regular season campaign spanning from February through May, featuring 16 Pac-12 Networks games as well as 16 games at the confines of the OSU Softball complex.

Highlighting a challenging 2017 slate are seven opponents that finished last season ranked in the top 25, combining for a third—18 games—of the Beavers' upcoming schedule. Additionally, Oregon State faces 18 opponents that finished with an RPI of 75 or better for a combined 34 games in the upcoming season and will play 31 games against 2016 NCAA Tournament teams.

"We have a great schedule coming up this year," Oregon State head coach Laura Berg said. "The Pac-12 schedule is always going to be tough year in and year out. Playing the top teams—teams that have been in the NCAA Tournament—is going to help us and will push us to get better. This schedule will help us get ready for the postseason. You've got to play the tough teams so that they can prepare you. I'm excited and looking forward to it. I know we can do it—it'll be fun to watch and see how these women step up to the challenge."

The Oregon State softball team is set to have 16 games appear on the Pac-12 Networks, including four games played at the OSU Softball complex.

"I think it's great to have so much television coverage," Berg said. "I think they see that we have a great stadium to televise games in, and it works out great, especially for those that have families from another state that will be able to see our athletes play on television. I'm excited for this year's coverage and I know the players are, too."

Oregon State will start the 2017 season with five tournaments in California, New Mexico and Hawaii. The Beavers open the season at the Paradise Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii from Feb. 9-11, before returning to the mainland for the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, New Mexico from Feb. 17-19 where they will meet with Tennessee—a team that ranked 15th in RPI last season.

The Beavers will close their tournament schedule in California with a trio of Classics. OSU will face four teams at the Mary Nutter Classic at Palm Springs, Feb. 24-26, including Long Beach State and Nebraska who both made NCAA Tournament appearances a season ago. Oregon State will start March with the San Diego State Classic March 3-5 and again will face a pair of team that made the postseason—Miami (Ohio) and McNeese State. OSU will finish its tournament slate at the Fresno State Classic March 10-12, where it will play Fresno State—finished last season ranked 22nd in the poll, 21st in RPI and made the postseason—and Sacramento State.

"I think the early travel provides an opportunity for the players to grow closer as a team and become closer out on the field as well," Berg said. "In my playing experiences, being on the road with my teammates were some of my favorite times. Having laughs while on the bus, watching movies in the airport – those are some of the things that I miss, and the things these ladies will miss as well when they're done playing."

The Beavers will begin their Pac-12 Conference schedule at home against Arizona (March 17-19) and will also host Pac-12 matchups against UCLA (April 13-15), Stanford (April 21-23) and Utah (May 5-7).

The road portion of the league schedule will kick off at Arizona State (March 25-27). The club will also travel to Washington (April 7-9) before heading south down I-5 for a three-game Civil War series at Oregon (April 28-30). The Beavers will close out the regular season with a road trip to Berkeley, Calif., to matchup with California (May 11-13).

Oregon State will file in a total of seven non-conference games during the bulk of its season. The Beavers will open its home schedule with a non-conference game against Minnesota on Monday, March 13. Following the Arizona school's series, OSU will first travel to Portland State on Wednesday, March 29 for a home-and-home series with the Vikings. The Beavers will host PSU on Tuesday, April 18 at the OSU Softball Complex.

The remaining four non-conference games will take place at the OSU Softball Complex starting against BYU on Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1. The Beavers will close its home non-conference schedule with a pair of games against UNLV on Saturday, April 1 and Sunday April 2.

The NCAA Regional and Super Region rounds are scheduled for the weeks of May 19-21 and 25-28 at campus sites. The Women's College World Series will take place in Oklahoma City on June 1-7.

For more information on the Oregon State softball team, follow the team's official Twitter and Instagram accounts @BeaverSoftball or by Facebook at /OregonStateSoftball.

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