GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University softball team will play a busy 52-game regular season slate, including 24 South Atlantic Conference contests, across the spring of 2022.

"We've got a solid lineup of non-conference teams and NCAA qualifiers to get us prepared for a tough SAC schedule this season," said TU head coach Julie Huebner. "Seventeen [student-athletes] are coming back, looking to build off of what we accomplished last year. The eight additions give more depth at key positions, especially pitching."

Going into year 10, Huebner is the program's winningest softball mentor in its NCAA history. In 2021 alone, she surpassed 200 coaching victories, won her first SAC Tournament championship, and earned a berth to the Division II regionals, also a first for the program. Huebner's 2022 roster includes four transfers and four freshmen, while retaining 17 from last season.

Tusculum will open its season (Feb. 5) at an opponent that it has not seen in a decade, USC Aiken. The Pacers went 6-14 last season, finishing ninth in the Peach Belt Conference, while only facing PBC foes. In 10 previous meetings, USC Aiken holds a 2-8 advantage over the Pioneers.

TU continues its South Carolina weekend at Claflin the next afternoon (Feb. 6). The Panthers also competed only within their conference (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association), finishing the regular season 8-1. By virtue of winning the CIAA, Claflin was the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA II Atlantic Regionals, but lost its two contests. Tusculum has won all four games in the series history with the Panthers by an impressive margin of 43-9.

Concord kicks off three-straight home series for the Pioneers on February 11. The Mountain Lions ended the season at 17-21 and finished third in the South division of the Mountain East Conference. TU and Concord only faced off five times between 1991-2013, with the Pioneers claiming every victory.

Chowan comes to Greeneville two days later (Feb. 13). The Haws finished next to last in the Conference Carolinas standings, while collecting an 8-24-1 overall mark. Tusculum and Chowan have only met once, with the Hawks taking the 2016 win.

The Pioneers end their short homestand against North Greenville on the 16th. Finishing sixth in Conference Carolinas, the Crusaders amassed a 26-15 overall record, including a win and two losses in the league tournament. TU dropped a pair of one-run decisions to NGU in 2021 to close the series lead to 16-12.

Tusculum is set to take part in the two-day (Feb. 19-20) Raines Company Softball Classic, hosted by Francis Marion.

Day one features a first-time matchup and a contest against the host. Mercy, a member of the East Coast Conference, opens its season at the FMU tournament. The Pioneers and Mavericks have never squared off in recorded history. The New York team went 17-14, finishing fourth in the ECC, losing in the league semifinals.

The hosting Patriots closed out its last season as a PBC member in 2021 with an 11-21 overall mark, earning an eighth place finish in the conference. Tusculum has lost four-straight at the hands of Francis Marion, bringing the series deficit to 4-14-1 since 1997.

Day two has a rematch scheduled against the Patriots before ending the event against Bloomsburg. The Huskies earned an even 17-17 record in its conference-only schedule in 2021 to finish sixth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East division. Tusculum played Bloomsburg twice in 2019, winning both high scoring affairs.

TU returns to Greeneville for another stint, beginning with Emmanuel on February 22. The eight-seeded Lions won their first-ever Conference Carolinas championship and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA II Southeast Regional. Tusculum and Emmanuel went toe-to-toe three times in 2021 as TU went 3-0, including the program's first NCAA II regional win.

The Pioneer Classic is set to make its return to Red Edmonds Field in 2022. The two-day event will run from February 26-27 and feature four teams: Tusculum, UVA Wise, Lees-McRae, and Young Harris. TU will play both the Bobcats and Mountain Lions on each day.

Lees-McRae went 13-25 last season, narrowly missing the Conference Carolinas tournament via a tiebreaker for the final spot. The Bobcats garnered a split with the Pioneers during 2021, but TU maintained its series lead (28-11).

Young Harris had a strong 34-12 campaign and claimed second in both the Peach Belt regular season and tournament. The Mountain Lions earned a spot in the regionals and were knocked out in the semifinals by the eventual champion. Tusculum was ousted from the NCAA tournament by Young Harris, moving the all-time series history to 3-9.

TU hosts Converse to open the March slate as the Valkyries are coming off of a 5-36 season, finishing at the bottom of the Conference Carolinas standings. The teams have faced one another six times and Tusculum has won every game with a run differential of 47-9.

On March 5, the Pioneers open their conference schedule at Wingate. The Bulldogs went 21-18 and secured the four-seed in the SAC tournament, bowing out in the quarterfinals in an upset. In 2021, TU and Wingate split a pair of one-run contests as the Bulldogs hang on to a 39-10 series lead.

Tusculum is scheduled to play one more non-conference series before playing seven consecutive SAC doubleheaders.

The Pioneers make a quick trip up to King on the 8th, who finished as the four-seed in Conference Carolinas behind a 25-16 mark. The Tornado ended their season in the semifinals. TU has dominated the nearly thirty-year series 39-8, including winning the last three contests.

Lenoir-Rhyne comes to town on March 12. The Bears closed out last season in the SAC quarterfinals as the seven-seed, notching a 17-16 finish. The Pioneers garnered a split versus the Bears in 2021 behind the longest no-hitter in program history (10 innings) by all-region selection Emily Sappington. Tusculum will look to make a dent in Lenoir-Rhyne's 46-9 series lead.

The SAC regular season champions will host the SAC tournament champions on March 16, in a rematch of the 2021 title game. Nationally-ranked Lincoln Memorial went 38-8 and finished as the runner-up in the NCAA II Southeast Regionals. The Pioneers and Railsplitters went head-to-head three times during the season. LMU swept the first two meetings, while TU used a shutout to win the NCAA automatic bid in the postseason. Over the thirty-year series, Lincoln Memorial has picked up 50 wins compared to 29 by Tusculum.

The battle of I-26 is set for a March 19 showdown on the Tennessee side of the border. Mars Hill and Tusculum split a pair of extra-inning games in 2021, but the Lions finished next to last in the SAC at season's end. Since 1993, the Volunteer State has won 42-of-68 contests over the Tar Heel State.

Four days later, Catawba invades the Greeneville campus. The Catawba Indians claimed the league's third seed for the tournament after a 28-10 regular season record. Tusculum won all three 2021 contests to overtake the series lead, 25-24. The third meeting was an upset in the SAC quarterfinals by the eventual champion Pioneers.

Tusculum makes the journey to Coker on March 26. The Cobras collected an 11th place finish in the SAC behind a 15-19 overall mark, including splitting a doubleheader versus the Pioneers. Since the first meeting between the programs in 1995, Coker holds the slight 11-9 edge over Tusculum.

The Pioneers return to South Carolina on the 29th to square off against the Anderson Trojans. AU was the SAC regular season runner-up with a 29-11 overall record. Tusculum and Anderson faced off four times in 2021 and each team won twice. Three contests were decided by run-rule, with two going the way of the Trojans. Tusculum got the one-run upset in the SAC semifinals, but Anderson retaliated in the regional opener, dropping TU to the loser's bracket. The Pioneers will look to tie the series history at 16 with a sweep in 2022.

April begins with back-to-back series at Red Edmonds Field against more teams from the Palmetto State. Limestone collides with the Pioneers on the second and Southern Wesleyan is the visitor on the fifth.

The Saints went 18-20 last season, finishing 10th in the SAC standings. After 2021's split with Tusculum, Limestone still holds the narrow 27-26 advantage in previous meetings.

The Warriors advanced the Conference Carolinas tournament as the seven-seed at 15-15, but lost consecutive games to be booted from the double-elimination event. SWU and TU opened the 2021 season against one another. Both programs parted with a win, keeping the series margin at three (6-3).

Tusculum makes its penultimate road trip to UVA Wise on April 9. Sneaking into the conference tournament as the final qualifier with a 17-18-1 mark, the Cavaliers lost to the top-seeded LMU in round one. TU and UVA Wise met on the Pioneers' Senior Day. Tusculum won game two in extra-inning, walk-off fashion after dropping the opener. Over the past two decades, the Tennessee squad has notched 18 wins versus a half dozen by the Virginians.

The archrival Eagles swoop in on April 12. Carson-Newman reached the SAC semifinals with a 22-11 overall record, but left town with a loss as the fifth seed. Tusculum halved the series in Jefferson City, highlighted by the Pioneers' first win on enemy turf since 2013. Carson-Newman holds the heavy series lead (45-13), but TU will continue the fight in 2022.

Queens serves as the final SAC doubleheader at Red Edmonds Field on April 15. The Royals rounded out the SAC standings after finishing the season 8-24. Tusculum shattered numerous personal and program records in game one, including team home runs (9), team total bases (49), Anna Alloway's five hits, and Hayley Lazo's three homers. Queens' series advantage over the Pioneers has dwindled to 8-6.

The final non-conference contest of the season for Tusculum will be versus Lee on April 19. The Flames swept the Pioneers in last year's series on their way to a 17-23 finish. Lee clinched the seventh seed in the Gulf South tournament but were eliminated after two-straight losses. TU will attempt to bring the Flames' 26-16 series lead to single-digits when they play at Red Edmonds Field.

Newberry and Tusculum are set to meet during the final weekend of the regular season for the second-straight year. The Wolves will host the Pioneers on April 23 as the series history is deadlocked at 23-all. Newberry came up just short of a SAC tournament berth with its ninth place finish, which included a split with Tusculum.

The 2022 SAC Softball Championship will be hosted by Lincoln Memorial at the Dorothy Neely Softball Complex. The eight-team, single-elimination tournament will be held Apr. 29-30 in Harrogate, Tennessee.

The NCAA Southeast Regionals will be hosted at the highest seed from May 12-14, while the Super Regionals will be held one week later from May 19-20. The selection and seeding date is scheduled for May 9.

The NCAA Division II Softball Championship will take place May 26-30 in Denver, Colorado at the Assembly Athletic Complex. Completed in 2015, the Metropolitan State University of Denver facility also served as the host for the 2019 and 2021 championships and will once again welcome the top eight teams this season.