MOBILE, Ala. – Throughout University of South Alabama softball head coach Becky Clark's first 10 seasons of competition, the Jaguars haven't shied away from strong competition and that will be no different this spring as the program is slated to take on 10 NCAA tournament teams, including three of which made it to last season's College World Series – Florida State, Alabama and LSU – in the 2017 schedule released on Tuesday.

Clark believes that the work put in the team put in the fall will help them during the first four weeks of the season as well as the remainder of the spring schedule.  

"We have a very challenging schedule including several 2016 Regional Tournament participants and three WCWS participants," Clark said.  "We will be tested early as we face many of those teams in February.  Our goal going into each fall is to put in the work so that we are prepared to hit the ground running that first weekend.  The challenge to me is always the consistency part; it is a long season and you are always working to be consistent in putting together a great body of work.  That means you have to be ready to compete early, you have to maintain it in the middle and then you have to finish strong.  I look forward to the spring because I know we have put in the work and I look forward to having everyone healthy this year and being able to put a great product on the field every single game."

With 12 returning letterwinners and 10 newcomers that include eight either redshirt-freshmen or true freshmen, Clark feels that the 2017 spring schedule will provide both a challenge and a good balance to help the Jaguars grow as a team and ultimately reach one of the club's goals; postseason play.

"Every year our goal is to play a balanced schedule that will challenge us and prepare us for conference play and hopefully give us a chance to get into postseason and compete on that stage," Clark stated.  "I believe if you want to grow as a team you have to play a schedule that will test you and I feel like we have put that type of schedule together again this season."

The 52-game schedule begins with 21 non-conference dates over the first four weeks of the season.  South Alabama, which finished with a 33-18 overall record and second in the Sun Belt Conference with a league mark of 17-6 a year ago, will not have to travel much early on as 13 of South Alabama's first 15 games are scheduled to be held at Jaguar Field.  USA will host three home tournaments during the first three weekends of the season.  Along with the three home tourneys, the Jaguars will also compete in four mid-week contests in addition to the Diamond 9 Tournament in Orlando, Fla., before beginning Sun Belt play.

Prior to beginning Sun Belt play, USA will be tested as it will face six either conference regular-season or tournament champions.

South Alabama officially begin the 2017 season on Feb. 9 when it hosts Central Arkansas.  The Jags continue action a day later when they face the Sugar Bears again to open the Sand Dollar Classic at Jaguar Field.  The three-day tournament held Feb. 10-12 will also see USA welcome Houston Baptist, Jacksonville State and Alabama State.  The Gamecocks finished with a 26-0 record in the Ohio Valley and also won the league's tournament title, while the Hornets captured the Southwestern Athletic Tournament.

USA will then travel to Alabama – who finished with a 46-12 mark – on Wednesday, Feb. 15 before returning to Mobile for its second tournament on the Jags' home field.  South will host the Mardi Gras Invitational on Feb. 17-19 where it will welcome Butler, Murray State, McNesse State and Jackson State.  Both Butler and McNeese State were NCAA tournament participants and won their conference tourneys last season.  The Cowgirls also won a school-record 43 games in 2016.

For the second-straight week, the Jags will have a difficult midweek road contest when they head to Tallahassee, Fla., to face Florida State on Tuesday, Feb. 21.  The Seminoles advanced to the semifinals at the WCWS and ended the season with a 55-12 record and a 21-2 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference capturing both the regular-season and tournament titles.

The Jaguars will then host their final home tournament of the spring on Feb. 24-26 when they welcome Tennessee Tech, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Middle Tennessee and Stephen F. Austin.  On Tuesday, Feb. 28, South will close out the month with a road game at McNeese State.

Three days later, USA heads to the Sunshine State for its fourth and final non-conference tournament of the spring.  The Jaguars will take on James Madison, Chattanooga, Bryant, Kansas and Purdue at the Diamond Tournament in Orlando, Fla., on March 3-5.  JMU won 50 games and entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 7 national seed and advanced to the Super Regional before falling to LSU.  

South Alabama will jump into Sun Belt Conference play when it travels to Atlanta to take on Georgia State (March 11-12) and then head to UAB for a single midweek game on Tuesday, March 14.  Following the game versus the Blazers, the Jaguars will return to Mobile to face SBC newcomer Coastal Carolina on March 18-19.

After a midweek contest at regional rival Southern Mississippi on Wednesday, March 22, USA welcomes defending conference champ Louisiana-Lafayette on March 25-26.  The Ragin' Cajuns finished with a 46-9 overall record and a 21-2 mark in the Sun Belt last season and advanced to their fifth-straight Super Regional.  ULL has won 14 of the SBC's 16 regular-season titles since league play began in 2001.

South Alabama will continue SBC action with a single midweek outing against in-state league rival Troy in Mobile on Wednesday, March 29, before traveling to Boone, N.C. for a three-game set against Appalachian State (April 1-2).

The Jaguars will host Southern Miss (April 5) and Texas State (April 8-9) before facing a difficult road stretch to close out the regular season.  USA will play nine of its final 12 games – at Texas-Arlington (April 14-15), at Louisiana-Monroe (April 22-23) at LSU (April 25) and at Troy (May 6) – on the road before heading to the conference tournament.  The lone home set during that stretch will be a three-game series versus Georgia Southern on April 29-30.  

This year's Sun Belt Championship will be hosted by Troy and is scheduled to be held May 10-13.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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