Mat Kanan, Western Michigan University – Director of Athletic Media Relations
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan will once again head West and South for its early season schedule and will face seven participants from the 2013 NCAA Softball Tournament in 2014.
The Broncos open the 2014 campaign at the Kajikawa Classic for the eighth-straight season. The slate for Feb. 6-9 starts off with Appalachian State at 6:30 p.m. to open the season. Two days later WMU will face its first of seven opponents to play in the 2013 NCAA Tournament when the Broncos take on Stanford at 2 p.m. All times mentioned are local times to Arizona.
Between Appalachian State and the Cardinal, WMU takes on Creighton and Utah and closes out the event Northridge and UC Riverside on Feb. 8-9.
Western Michigan follows with a trip to Nashville for the Tennessee State Tournament. The Broncos take on Dayton and Temple on Feb. 21 to open the tourney. The Broncos take on tournament host Tennessee State and Temple again the following day, closing out the event against Youngstown State.
The Broncos continue their participation in the University of South Florida Series, playing in the USF Under Armour Invitational (Feb. 28-March 2) and the USF Under Armour Showcase (March 7-9).
WMU takes on Mount St. Mary’s, Villanova, Central Arkansas, Quinnipiac and Georgia State in the USF Invitational. The Broncos will stay in the Sunshine State between tournaments to play Maine and South Florida on March 4. The Bulls was a game away from advancing to the Super Regional in 2013.
Three days later, WMU will take on St. John’s, Indiana State, Long Island, Seton Hall and 2013 NCAA Tournament entrant Fordham in the USF Showcase (March 7-9).
The final early season tournament is a return trip to the Fighting Illini Classic (March 14-16). The Broncos first played in the event a season ago but the event was cut short due to extremely cold playing conditions. This year, WMU opens against Saint Louis and follows with back-to-back games against Nebraska-Omaha. Western Michigan closes out the tournament against North Dakota State and host Illinois.
Western Michigan will only have two home weekends in 2014, hosting Miami (April 11) and Ball State (April 12-13) as well as Buffalo (April 25) and Kent State (April 26-27).
Outside of Maine and South Florida, WMU will play Valparaiso (March 18), Michigan State (March 25), Michigan (April 8) and Notre Dame (April 29) in non-conference action. The 2014 Mid-American Conference Tournament will take place May 7-10 at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio.
