University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Unveils 2015 Schedule
12/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Minnesota's 2015 Schedule
MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota softball team released its 2015 schedule Tuesday afternoon. The Gophers schedule includes 23 Big Ten conference games and 15 home contests, which will be played at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.
The Gophers will play a tournament at Stetson University in Florida Feb. 13-15. The schedule for that weekend will be announced at a later date.
The 42nd season of Gopher Softball kicks off with six nonconference tournaments to be played in Las Vegas, Nev., DeLand, Fla., Tempe, Ariz., Orlando, Fla., Palo Alto, Calif., and Fresno, Calif. Following a road game against California, the Gophers will jump into Big Ten play with road series at Illinois and Nebraska.
After the three-game set against the Cornhuskers, 15 of the Gophers' final 20 regular season games will be played at home. That stretch begins with a seven-game homestand that includes conference series against Michigan and Northwestern and a midweek tilt against South Dakota.
Minnesota will later travel to Michigan State for three games and to Wisconsin for a midweek doubleheader and will play host to North Dakota State, Iowa and Purdue.
The Big Ten Tournament will be held in Columbus, Ohio and will begin May 7. NCAA Tournament play starts May 15.
The team is scheduled to play 20 games against teams that competed in last year's NCAA tournament, including seven games against super-regional round qualifiers. The Gophers' 31 opponents on the docket for 2015 averaged just under 30 wins a year ago.
Feb. 6-8: Sportco Kickoff Classic (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Opponents: Washington, Cal State Bakersfield, UC Davis, Louisville, UNLV
Tournament Notes: The 2015 season begins with the team's fourth trip to Las Vegas in as many years. Minnesota opens the year with a matchup against NCAA Super Regional qualifier Washington. After games against Cal State Bakersfield and UC Davis, the Gophers will see another 2014 NCAA Tournament opponent in Louisville before playing host UNLV.
Feb. 13-15: Tournament at Stetson (DeLand, Fla.)
Opponents: TBA
Feb. 20-22: Diamond Devil Invitational (Tempe, Ariz.)
Opponents: New Mexico State, Boise State, Arizona State, Colorado State
Tournament Notes: The Gophers head to Tempe, Ariz. for a fourth-consecutive season to play four teams that combined for a 139-74-1 record last year. Minnesota opens with New Mexico before taking on Boise State twice, as well as perennial power and host Arizona State. The team concludes the weekend against Colorado State, which is coming off a 32-win season. In 2014, the Maroon and Gold defeated both the Broncos and Sun Devils.
Feb. 27-March 1: Citrus Classic (Orlando, Fla.)
Opponents: Mississippi State, James Madison, Missouri, Omaha, Fordham
Tournament Notes: Minnesota makes its second trip to Florida and faces five teams that combined for a 196-90 record in 2014. The field of teams the Gophers will play includes four NCAA Tournament qualifiers from a year ago, three of which finished the season receiving votes in the national polls.
March 6-8: Louisville Slugger Classic (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Opponents: Stanford, Santa Clara
Tournament Notes: Starting a stretch of 10-straight games in the state of California, the Gophers will face head coach Jessica Allister's alma mater, Stanford, three times in three days. Minnesota will also face Santa Clara for the first time ever.
March 13-15: Fresno State Classic (Fresno, Calif.)
Opponents: South Dakota, Pacific, Fresno State, Montana, Cal Poly
Tournament Notes: Minnesota plays its final non-conference tournament of the season at Fresno State. The Gophers will play South Dakota and Pacific before meeting the host Bulldogs. The Gophers will play Montana and Cal Poly on the tournament's final day.
March 18: at California
Last Meeting: The Golden Gophers and Golden Bears will meet for the first time since March 13, 2004, when then-No. 3 Cal took a 6-2 victory at the National Invitational Tournament in San Jose, Calif. Current Minnesota pitching coach Piper Ritter played in that game. The last time Minnesota defeated Cal was in the 1998 NCAA Regional.
March 20-22: at Illinois
Last Meeting: The Gophers won by scores of 8-0 in six innings and 7-0 to cap a three-game, weekend sweep of the Illini at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota's first home series of 2014. The victories improved Minnesota's record against Illinois to 8-3 under head coach Jessica Allister.
March 27-29: at Nebraska
Last Meeting: Minnesota and then-No. 15/17 Nebraska split a doubleheader with the Gophers winning the opener, 13-4, before falling short of a road sweep with a 3-2 loss in Lincoln, Neb. in the teams' 2014 Big Ten-opening series. On the weekend, the Gophers improved 5-4 against NU since the Cornhuskers joined the conference in 2011.
April 3-5: Michigan
Last Meeting: The Gophers earned their first Big Ten Tournament title since 1999 with a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Wolverines in Evanston, Ill. in 2014. Earlier in the season, Michigan took two of three games from Minnesota in Ann Arbor, Mich., winning the final two games after the Gophers snapped a 20-game Michigan winning streak in the series opener.
April 10-12: Northwestern
Last Meeting: Last season, Minnesota defeated Northwestern, 3-1, in the rubber match of the teams' first series in Minneapolis since 2009. The first two games between the Gophers and the No. 23/25 Wildcats on the weekend were slugfests that saw the teams combine for 40 runs.
April 15: South Dakota
Last Meeting: South Dakota visits Minnesota for the first time since Jessica Allister's first season with the team in 2011. That year, Gophers swept a doubleheader with USD with a pair of shutouts. The teams previously had not played since 1979.
April 17-19: at Michigan State
Last Meeting: Michigan State is the lone Big Ten team that the Gophers will play in the 2015 regular season that they did not see in 2014. Minnesota and MSU, which first played each other in 1976, last played in 2011 in Minneapolis. The Gophers won the series opener, 6-3, before falling in the finale, 12-2. Minnesota leads the all-time series between the schools, 53-35.
April 22: North Dakota State
Last Meeting: After having a midweek doubleheader cancelled last year, the Gophers and Bison ended up meeting at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium in the NCAA regional round. Minnesota advanced to the regional championship with a 4-1 victory in 10 innings. Krista Menke pitched all 10 innings for NDSU, while then-freshman Sara Groenewegen shined in relief, tossing 6.1 no-hit innings, racking up 13 strikeouts. The Maroon and Gold has won 20 of 21 meetings between the two teams.
April 24-26: Iowa
Last Meeting: In Minnesota's 2014 midweek doubleheader in Iowa City, Iowa, the Gophers posted back-to-back shutouts of the Hawkeyes, earning 2-0 and 7-0 wins. Minnesota held Iowa to seven total hits on the day to seal its fourth-straight 30-win season.
April 29: at Wisconsin
Last Meeting: In a rematch of the 2013 Big Ten Tournament Championship, Wisconsin traveled to Minneapolis and staved off a late rally attempt by the Gophers to win the first game of a Sunday doubleheader, 2-1. The Gophers salvaged a split in the second game, winning 3-0 as Sara Groenewegen tossed a two-hit shutout.
May 1-3: Purdue
Last Meeting: After the Gophers closed out the 2014 regular season by taking two of three wins in a road series in West Lafayette, Ind., they downed the Boilermakers for a third-straight time the following weekend in the Big Ten Tournament's quarterfinal round in Evanston, Ill. Bree Blanchette capped a sixth-inning comeback with a grand slam, helping lead Minnesota to a 6-3 victory. By taking three of four from the Boilermakers last season, the Gophers now lead the all-time series, 24-21.
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