Colorado State University Athletics
Rams Announce 2020 Softball Schedule
11/19/2019 9:13:00 AM | Softball
Colorado State will host 18 home games in the 2020 season.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Pressure creates diamonds.
Colorado State softball built a difficult schedule, not to put the team at a disadvantage, but to test the meddle of their team.
A tournament in Texas begins the year February 7 before the Rams head to Mexico, California and back home to Fort Collins – all challenges for the club. Playing the University of Texas, the University of Tennessee and Louisiana State, all before the difficult conference slate even begins, is going to be an added hurdle.
Part of the scheduling was due to the Mountain West instituting rules to aid the RPI standings of each team in the conference. Several requirements ensure that each club faces multiple strong out-of-conference foes in order to benefit every other team.
"What we're telling our young ladies is that we want to go up against the best and see how we match up," Colorado State softball head coach Jen Fisher said. "That's only going to make us better."
When the season comes to a close, each team from the conference will be put into tiers. The best teams will be placed in a singular area at the top, while the others are sorted throughout the rest of the standings in their various groups.
Once the groups are sorted, the top teams are granted the ability to schedule the hardest opponents the next year – another reason for the hefty opponents of the Rams' 2020 slate.
With teams being sorted by their end results, "Every game matters" in the words of Fisher.
Among the tournaments, the aforementioned trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico stands out. The Rams will face off with Utah, Tennessee, Ole Miss, California Baptist and Team Mexico in the event.
It's a wide-ranging opportunity for the softball program.
"It's always great to get out and allow your team to travel and see different places that they haven't seen," Fisher said. "We have such a great team culture and our team has been, in these past several years, really enjoyable to travel with. It's something that they can look forward to and even their families can look forward to."
The tournament is run by Triple Crown Sports, a company based in Fort Collins.
Following their tough slate to begin the year, the reigning MW Champion Rams will be faced with defending their title against a conference that's blossomed in recent years. Of the nine schools competing in 2019, six finished with a record above .500. Five finished with a winning percentage at-or-above .649.
"You can look at the numbers and see that our RPI as a whole conference has really improved (in recent years)," Fisher said. "I think we're really starting to make a name for ourselves and I think we have some great coaches and we're working well together to strengthen the entire conference. I don't think you see that very often."
The conference season for the Rams beings March 13th with a three-game, weekend set against San Diego State. In all, they'll play three games against each of the seven Mountain West clubs before the NCAA Tournament hits May 15.
Colorado State softball built a difficult schedule, not to put the team at a disadvantage, but to test the meddle of their team.
A tournament in Texas begins the year February 7 before the Rams head to Mexico, California and back home to Fort Collins – all challenges for the club. Playing the University of Texas, the University of Tennessee and Louisiana State, all before the difficult conference slate even begins, is going to be an added hurdle.
Part of the scheduling was due to the Mountain West instituting rules to aid the RPI standings of each team in the conference. Several requirements ensure that each club faces multiple strong out-of-conference foes in order to benefit every other team.
"What we're telling our young ladies is that we want to go up against the best and see how we match up," Colorado State softball head coach Jen Fisher said. "That's only going to make us better."
When the season comes to a close, each team from the conference will be put into tiers. The best teams will be placed in a singular area at the top, while the others are sorted throughout the rest of the standings in their various groups.
Once the groups are sorted, the top teams are granted the ability to schedule the hardest opponents the next year – another reason for the hefty opponents of the Rams' 2020 slate.
With teams being sorted by their end results, "Every game matters" in the words of Fisher.
Among the tournaments, the aforementioned trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico stands out. The Rams will face off with Utah, Tennessee, Ole Miss, California Baptist and Team Mexico in the event.
It's a wide-ranging opportunity for the softball program.
"It's always great to get out and allow your team to travel and see different places that they haven't seen," Fisher said. "We have such a great team culture and our team has been, in these past several years, really enjoyable to travel with. It's something that they can look forward to and even their families can look forward to."
The tournament is run by Triple Crown Sports, a company based in Fort Collins.
Following their tough slate to begin the year, the reigning MW Champion Rams will be faced with defending their title against a conference that's blossomed in recent years. Of the nine schools competing in 2019, six finished with a record above .500. Five finished with a winning percentage at-or-above .649.
"You can look at the numbers and see that our RPI as a whole conference has really improved (in recent years)," Fisher said. "I think we're really starting to make a name for ourselves and I think we have some great coaches and we're working well together to strengthen the entire conference. I don't think you see that very often."
The conference season for the Rams beings March 13th with a three-game, weekend set against San Diego State. In all, they'll play three games against each of the seven Mountain West clubs before the NCAA Tournament hits May 15.
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