Feb. 10, 2012

Arlington, Texas -

The UT Arlington softball team gets a jump start on its 2012 season with a five-games-in-three-days stretch at the Getterman/QTI Classic hosted by Baylor this weekend.

The Mavericks will face Arkansas and Belmont on Friday, Wichita State and Iowa on Saturday, and Baylor on Sunday.

This is the first of four straight tournaments to open the season for the Mavericks. UTA will also play in the Century Link Classic in San Marcos, Texas (Feb. 17-19), will host the UT Arlington Classic (Feb. 24-26) and will travel to the Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic (March 2-4).

The Mavericks finished their season just one game short of first place in the Southland Conference regular season.

"You can't help but think about that, but it happened and there's nothing we can do about it," UT Arlington head coach Debbie Hedrick said. "There are years when you're competitive, but maybe not enough to win the conference. That goal remains and that's what we want to push for (this) year."

This season, the Southland Conference has reduced the conference schedule from 30 games to 20 games with two-game series typically being played on Friday and Saturday. This allows Southland schools to challenge more non-conference opponents in mid-week action.