MIAMI (January 21, 2018) -- Coming off the best season in program history, the FIU Panthers softball squad will play a full quarter of the 56-game schedule against fellow members of the 2017 NCAA Softball Championship field, as the Panthers announce the docket for the upcoming season.
 
FIU will play eight members of the tournament field for 14 games of the upcoming schedule, including 10 games in a row, all on the road, in the second half of the month of March.
 
The Panthers will host two non-conference tournaments, playing eight different teams in those 11 games. The season begins with the FIU Felsberg Invitational, which will include NCAA Tournament-entrant South Carolina for the last of FIU's two games on Saturday, February 10. Also included in the non-conference tournament schedule will be a trip to Las Vegas and the Marucci Desert Classic. There, the Panthers will face a trio of first-time opponents, Utah State, BYU and CSUN (Cal State Northridge), among the five games in three days of the event. The late Saturday game for FIU will be against Mountain West Conference champion San Jose State, before taking on Nevada on Sunday for the final game of the weekend.
 
FIU will finish the non-conference tournament weekends back in Orlando, and a return trip to the Citrus Classic. It was there last season where FIU started its program-record 17-game winning streak.
 
The Conference USA schedule starts at home on March 10, when the Panthers host UTSA for a three-game series. The Panthers finished second in the East Division last season, with the second-best C-USA record in the league, 17-6. FIU advanced to its second-ever conference championship game, falling to LA Tech 1-0.
 
The Lady Techsters were picked to finish first and FIU second, despite FIU garnering seven of the 12 first-place votes by league coaches.
 
Following that home series, FIU hits the road for a season-long 12-game road trip, which includes 10 in a row against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago. The historic trip starts at Southland Conference champ McNeese on Wednesday, March 14, and continues to Sun Belt Conference champ Louisiana on Thursday, March 15. A three-game series with C-USA champion LA Tech is contested on March 17 and 18. The Panthers play at National Runner-Up Florida for a doubleheader on Wednesday, March 28 and then a three-game road series at NCAA at-large entrant and regular-season C-USA champ Marshall on March 30 and 31 to finish the run of 10 games, all on the road, against tournament teams.
 
FIU hosts Florida Atlantic (April 7-8), Middle Tennessee (April 14-15) and Charlotte (April 28-29) in important division series. The Panthers will travel to WKU (May 4-5) to finish the regular season before the C-USA Tournament, which will be hosted by Charlotte from May 9-12.
 
FIU set the school record for wins (46), win percentage (.754) and fewest losses (15) in a season.
 
For softball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUSoftball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSoftball) for all the latest FIU softball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).

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