Three states noted for their warm winter weather appear on the Big West softball schedule this week as the conference has games slated in California, Florida and Texas.
Starting in the state of California, six conference clubs are slated for action but have an eye on the sky after seeing two weekends full of rain.
Thursday marks the beginning of the Cathedral City Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., an annual tournament which will see Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara in action. On that day, the Gauchos have a pair of games against ACC members N.C. State and Maryland, while Cal State Fullerton's lone game of the day comes against the Wolfpack in an early evening affair.
Friday in Cathedral City, CSF plays a pair against North Carolina and Nebraska, UCSB plays a single game against Tennessee Tech and Cal Poly joins the party wth a matchup against #8/t-4 Oklahoma.
Saturday's action in the desert sees the Mustangs taking on another highly regarded ranked team in #9/10 Tennessee as well as Georgia Tech in a tough day of competition. Meanwhile, the Gauchos take on Kansas, while Cal State Fullerton has a late schedule with contests against Long Island and Mississippi.
Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara will be the only Big West teams scheduled for action Sunday in the final day of the Cathedral City Classic. The Mustangs will take on the Jayhawks and UNLV, while the Gauchos square off against #17/19 Nevada and Ohio State.
Defending league champion Long Beach State will also be in the Golden State as the 49ers spend a weekend in San Diego for the second straight week, this time at the USD Tournament.
LBSU will look to get back over the .500 mark with games against Colorado State and Boise State Friday, the host Toreros and the Broncos Saturday and wrap things up with a single game against the Rams Sunday at high noon.
Pacific and UC Davis have already been affected by Mother Nature as scheduled Tuesday games were washed out. The Tigers will play their doubleheader against Saint Mary’s Tuesday, while the Aggies' home opener has been pushed back once again to an undetermined date.
The two teams will still be in action as Pacific plays single games Saturday in Bakersfield against Cal State Bakersfield and Santa Clara, while UCD plays a twinbill against the Gaels on the same day.
Cal State Northridge returns to action after a week off with a trip to El Paso, Texas for the UTEP Softball Invitational.
The Matadors, who played in a tournament in Houston a year ago, kick off the UTEP tourney with two games Thursday against Northern Colorado and New Mexico State, then face San Jose State and Nebraska the following day. Saturday marks the end of CSUN's time in the invitational as an early morning matchup against Samford wraps up the Matadors' Texas-two step.
UC Riverside gets a chance to travel to the Sunshine State this weekend as the Highlanders will take part in the Seminole Classic hosted by Florida State.
UCR has four games over the two days it’s scheduled for competition in Tallahassee. Saturday sees the Highlanders play a pair of Big Ten teams in #4/t-4 Michigan and Indiana, while Sunday has the club squaring off against East Carolina and the host Seminoles in midday action.