SAN DIEGO -- A year after coming up one win shy of advancing to the 2023 Women's College World Series, San Diego State softball head coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz has announced a 46-game schedule for the 2024 season.
Included on the docket for the Aztecs in 2024 are three-time defending NCAA champion Oklahoma, two other teams who made the 2023 WCWS and nine games against conference champions. Overall, SDSU will play 18 games against 15 teams who made the 2023 NCAA tournament.
San Diego State will play five teams who finished in the top 25 of the RPI last year in No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Stanford, No. 11 LSU (twice), No. 15 Utah and No. 17 Oregon, and another seven games against top-40 teams - No. 26 Texas A&M (twice), No. 28 Minnesota, No. 29 Kentucky, No. 31 McNeese, No. 36 Nebraska and No. 38 Missouri.
San Diego State finished the 2023 campaign with a 39-17 record, advancing to the program's first super regional after capturing the NCAA Los Angeles Regional, and being ranked No. 18 in the final ESPN/USA Softball poll and 19th in the final USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll. The Aztecs won the Mountain West tournament, the first held since 2006, with a perfect 3-0 record after finishing second in regular-season play.
SDSU begins 2024 with the SDSU Season Kickoff from Thursday, Feb. 8-to-Sunday, Feb. 11 at SDSU Softball Stadium. The season-opening tournament looks more like the toughest NCAA regional, featuring No. 3 (in last year's final RPI) Stanford, No. 27 San Diego State, No. 28 Minnesota and No. 29 Kentucky, along with UC Santa Barbara. The Aztecs kick off the season against Stanford on Thursday, before meeting Minnesota on Friday, and Kentucky and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.
Following a mid-week clash at San Diego on Feb. 14, the Aztecs play host to the 33rd annual Campbell/Cartier Classic from Friday, Feb. 16-to-Sunday, Feb. 18. SDSU will play No. 26 Texas A&M (Friday and Saturday) and LMU (Friday and Sunday) twice, along with No. 17 Oregon. All four teams in the Campbell/Cartier Classic made the tournament last year with San Diego State and Oregon advancing to the NCAA Super Regional (Sweet 16).
The Aztecs then head to the always competitive Mary Nutter Collegiate from Feb. 22-24, which will once again will take place at Big League Dreams Park in the Palm Springs area in Cathedral City, California. Three of the four opponents for SDSU made the 2023 NCAA tournament, including No. 38 Missouri on Thursday, No. 36 Nebraska on Friday and No. 1 Oklahoma on Saturday. San Diego State also plays Bethune-Cookman later after Friday's Nebraska game.
Next up is the Purple & Gold Challenge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from March 1-3. The Aztecs are scheduled to play NCAA tournament team (and No. 31 RPI team) McNeese on Friday, tournament host and No. 11 LSU on Friday and Saturday, along with Louisiana Tech on Saturday and Illinois on Sunday.
On March 6, SDSU will play host to Utah. It will be rematch of last year's NCAA Super Regional where the Utes escaped with a 2-1 series win to advance to the WCWS.
San Diego State plays its final non-conference contests on March 8-9 at the Louisville Slugger Invitational. The Aztecs will take on NCAA tournament teams Grand Canyon and host Long Beach State on Friday in Long Beach, California, before making the short drive to Fullerton on Saturday for games against North Dakota and another NCAA tournament team Cal State Fullerton.
SDSU kicks off conference play with a home series against Utah State from March 15-17. San Diego State also travels to Fresno State (March 22-24), hosts Colorado State (March 28-30), heads to New Mexico for an April 3 doubleheader, welcomes defending MW regular-season champion Boise State (April 6-7), travels to San Jose State (April 12-14), hosts Nevada for senior weekend from April 26-28 and heads to UNLV to end the regular season from May 2-4.
The Mountain West Tournament will take place in Boise, Idaho, from May 9-11, with the champion receiving the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.