COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The University of Colorado Colorado Springs softball team will travel for warmer weather and clear skies while the field remains under snow to open the 2016 season in the Desert Stinger Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. The Mountain Lions will play five regional games with new Head Coach
Ricki Rothbauer.
UCCS will open with former RMAC opponent Nebraska-Kearney on Friday at 5:30 p.m., and immediately follow with an 8 p.m., game against California State-San Bernardino. The Mountain Lions play only one game on Satuday at 5:30 p.m., against California State-Dominguez Hills. Sunday will feature a doubleheader starting with the host school Montana State-Billings at 12:30 p.m., with the end to the weekend at 3 p.m., against California State-Stanislaus. All of the game times are set for the Mountain Time Zone, and will be broadcast for free through GoMountainLions.com.
Rothbauer begins her first season after head coaching stops at Northwestern Oklahoma State and Texas A&M-Kingsville. She was a two-time Division II All-American and a part of two College World Series teams at Northern Kentucky.
Dani Fonseca earned a spot on the RMAC All-Preseason team announced two weeks ago and will need one home run this weekend to move into a tie for No. 10 in UCCS career records. She was second in the RMAC last season with 13 home runs and ninth with 45 runs batted in. The Mountain Lions tied for seventh in the preseason coaches poll and were projected to advance to the conference tournament.
Three of the five Mountain Lion opponents are from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. California State-San Bernardino was tied for fifth in the CCAA Preseason Poll, followed by No. 9 Dominguez Hills and No. 10 Stanislaus. UCCS only has a history against Stanislaus, and the only meeting was a 7-5 victory for the Mountain Lions on April 1, 1995.
Nebraska-Kearney returns eight starters from last season's team and was picked No. 10 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association preseason poll. The Mountain Lions and Lopers have not faced each other since UNK moved to the MIAA after the 2012 season. Billings received one first place vote in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason Poll and placed fifth, after a third-place regular season finish in 2015.
