UMBC

BALTIMORE—UMBC head softball coach Joe French today announced the Retrievers’ 2010 schedule, which includes four tournaments and games against a number of regional rivals. The season begins Feb. 19-21 at the USC Upstate Campus Suites Spartan Classic in Spartanburg, S.C.

UMBC will face Eastern Kentucky, Liberty and the host Spartans during the three-day season-opening tournament.

The Retrievers will host three straight tournaments, beginning with the UMBC Retriever Classic (March 5-7) with Brown, Fairleigh Dickinson and Morgan State. The next week is the Sixth Annual UMBC Dawg Pound Invitational (March 12-14) with Bucknell, Drexel, Morgan State, Seton Hall and St. Francis (Pa.), followed by the Eighth Annual UMBC Spring Classic (March 19-21) with Delaware, Georgetown, Lehigh, Mount St. Mary’s and Niagara.

Highlights of the non-conference slate include home games against George Washington (March 2), Howard (March 17), Rhode Island (March 23), Morgan State (March 30), Georgetown (April 6), Longwood (April 10) and La Salle (April 13), and road trips to Towson (Feb. 24), Delaware (March 9) and Temple (March 24).

America East Conference play begins March 27-28 with a three-game home series against 2009 regular-season champion Stony Brook. The Retrievers also host 2009 America East champion Boston University (April 17-18) and league tournament qualifier Albany (May 8-9), while UMBC will travel to conference foes Binghamton (April 2-3), Maine (April 24-25) and Hartford (May 1-2).

The Retrievers will look for their fifth straight trip to the four-team America East Championships, which are May 13-15 at the home field of the No. 1 seed.