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By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information Coordinator

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Spring is just around the corner and less than four weeks separate the defending Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion Tennessee Tech softball team from opening the 2016 season.

The schedule awaiting coach Bonnie Bynum's squad begins, as usual, with tournament play in February and early March. Tech will host 21 home games, including 13 Ohio Valley Conference contests, in the 55-game slate. 

"We have a huge amount of confidence," head coach Bonnie Bynum said about heading into this season. "Where we ended up last year is where we are going to start off this year. We want to make sure we keep that momentum going into the 2016 season."

The Golden Eagles return 13 players to the lineup from last season and welcome five fresh faces that are sure to make this Tech team another contender in the Ohio Valley Conference and NCAA tournaments this year. 

"I think they have developed a lot," Bynum continued. "They've gotten a lot more mature. Having your first championship and post season experience obviously helps you mature and to know what to expect, and just gives you that hunger to get back there." 

The Golden Eagles will open the schedule at the Mississippi State Tournament, Feb. 12-14, where they face games against Georgia Southern, Houston, Alabama A&M and the host Bulldogs.

"I think Mississippi State being an SEC [Southeastern Conference] school will pose a challenge for us early on, but competition ranges throughout the tournament," Bynum remarked. "I think it will give us the chance to play a lot of different people in a lot of different positions to help see where we are at."

Numerous road match-ups highlight Tech's schedule, which include facing top ranked competitors such as LSU and Tennessee on their home fields. 

"We don't treat those games any different or make them any bigger than what they are," Bynum commented about facing those top teams. "They are just another opponent that we have to face and will present the same challenges that we would have to overcome in any other game."

Tech's road schedule includes non-conference games at Western Kentucky (April 13) and Tennessee (April 27), plus OVC series at Jacksonville State, Belmont, UT Martin, Southeast Missouri, Murray State and Austin Peay.

Tech follows the opening weekend at MSU with tournaments at Troy (Feb. 20-21), Samford (Feb. 26-28) and LSU (March 4-6), before opening at home March 12-13 with a round-robin tournament that will include six total games. Tech will play two games each against Kennessaw State and East Tennessee State. KSU will come to town under the direction of former Golden Eagle coach Tory Acheson, making for an interesting match-up for Bynum, whose Golden Eagle career came under Acheson's direction.

"It's always fun when I beat him," Bynum kidded. "It's always good to play against people I consider my mentors. It makes for a good game, so it should be a lot of fun playing against his team."

After the first home weekend, Tech will play four more non-conference games at home, welcoming Bradley on March 15,  Lipscomb March 30, and Chattanooga for a doubleheader on April 14. The home conference schedule features visits from SIUE, Eastern Illinois, Tennessee State, Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky.

The OVC Tournament will be held May 11-14 at the site of the league's regular season champion, which was SIUE last season.

The Golden Eagle's truly had a successful season last year, capturing their first NCAA tournament win since 2007 and grabbing an OVC Tournament title, which is sure to keep the hunger alive in any team coming off that kind of season. 

"Winning the conference is always our goal," Bynum commented. "We don't really set a numbers goal or anything like that, our ultimate goal is to prepare ourselves. Obviously we want to win the regular season, but it is most important to prepare ourselves as much as we can going into the conference tournament and into the post-season again."

This year's OVC schedule opens on the road with a three-game set at always-challenging Jacksonville State, March 19-20.

"Every year the OVC produces good competition," Bynum continued. "I think we faltered a few games, which cost us a little bit for our end of the year rankings going into the conference tournament. Obviously, you want to be ranked No. 1, but if not, you want to finish as high as you can. We just want to make sure we don't take any team for granted or really put any team up too high in our minds, either. We want to just play each game consistently."