CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Five in-season tournaments and 12 total games versus programs that saw post-season action last year highlight the 2018 Austin Peay State University softball schedule under first-year head coach Rodney DeLong, released Monday.
Among the teams that saw post-season action on the Govs schedule are Jacksonville State and East Tennessee, who earned NCAA Tournament slots, with Boise State, Louisiana Monroe, Western Kentucky, Murray State and Tennessee Martin all selected to participated in the National Invitational Softball Championship Tournament.
All five of the tournaments will take place in the season's first six weeks, as the Governors play their first 27 games of their 56-game slate away from Clarksville.
Austin Peay opens its 33rd season of competition at the Eagle Round Robin (Feb. 9-11) where they will face host Georgia Southern, Radford and East Tennessee.
The Govs will have a mid-week road doubleheader at Alabama A&M (Feb. 14) before their next tournament action at the University of Central Arkansas Tournament (Feb. 23-25), where they are joined by host Central Arkansas, Louisiana Monroe, Kansas, South Dakota State and Boise State.
A road single game at Middle Tennessee (Feb. 28) will close-out February's games, with APSU opening March up at the Western Kentucky Spring Fling (March 2-4).
It is the third straight year the Govs has played in the Hilltoppers tournament and this year, along with tournament host WKU, the Govs will face Evansville and Dayton.
The next weekend (March 10-11) will see the Govs make their first trip to Johnson City, Tenn., to play in East Tennessee's tournament, where ETSU and APSU will be joined by Jackson State and Saint Peters.
The final in-season tournament of the year for Austin Peay will at played at the Mercer Bears Classic (March 16-18) with Mercer, Bucknell and Rutgers joining the Govs in the tournament field.
Austin Peay finally returns to Cheryl Holt Field for its home-season opener (March 21) by hosting Lipscomb for the first time in five years.
The Govs then return to the road to open Ohio Conference play with doubleheaders at Morehead State (March 24) and Eastern Kentucky (March 25).
A home OVC doubleheader versus Tennessee Tech (March 30) closes out the month, followed by a road non-conference contest to open April vs. Chattanooga (April 4).
The Govs return for their longest homestand of the year (seven games), with home OVC doubleheaders versus Southeast Missouri (April 7), Tennessee Martin (April 8), a non-conference single game versus Middle Tennessee (April 11) before closing the homestand versus OVC opponent Jacksonville State (April 14).
Austin Peay then hits the road for six games starting with Samford (April 18) followed by OVC doubleheaders versus Belmont (April 21) and Tennessee State (April 22).
Six games will closeout the Govs home slate with a doubleheader versus Alabama A&M (April 25) and OVC twinbills against SIUE (April 28) and Eastern Illinois (April 29).
The Govs wrap-up its season with a road OVC doubleheader at Murray State (May 5).
The OVC Softball Championship will be played at Choccolocco Park, in Oxford, Ala., on May 9-12.
