Chippewa Softball Announces 2024 Schedule

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Central Michigan Softball announced its full 52-game schedule for the 2024 season Friday afternoon.

The Chippewas are slated to play in four pre-season tournaments in the south before hosting two non-conference games at home for the first time since 2019.

Team 46 will travel to Mobile, Ala. to open the season with Eastern Kentucky, UAB and to face MAC opponent NIU along with the host team, South Alabama.

Central Michigan will then head west to Tuscon, Ariz. to participate in the Hillenbrand Invitational hosted by Arizona. The Wildcats earned votes in the final Top-25 poll of the 2023 season. Also at the invitational will be Drake, Marshall, and Indiana.

The spring break trip for the Chippewas will consist of a double tournament trip to Florida. The trip will start in Tampa, Fla. where the Chippewas will play in the University of South Florida Tournament facing Georgia Southern, Villanova, Louisville, Florida Gulf Coast, and the host USF. Emma Lotus, a freshman outfielder for Central Michigan, has a sister, Easton who plays for Louisville and will be the first sister match-up the Chippewas see this season.

The Spring Games in Clearwater, Fla. will be the closing leg of the trip for the Chippewas where Team 46 will face LIU, Bucknell, Manhattan, Chattanooga, and Colgate.

In March, Central Michigan will open Mid-American Conference play at home when they face NIU, who they will have seen just under one month earlier in the South Alabama Tournament.

The first non-conference home game to be hosted by the Chippewas in the Salmon era will come as Detroit Mercy comes to Mount Pleasant. A quick trip to South Bend to play Notre Dame will be in between the two non-conference home games as Oakland visits the day after.

Other non-conference opponents include Big Ten in-state foes, Michigan State and Michigan. When the Chippewas and Wolverines face off at Carol Hutchens Stadium, the Vallimont sisters will compete against each other for the first time in their respective collegiate careers. Senior outfielder Michaleigh Vallimont for the Chippewas and her younger sister, Lilly Vallimont who catches for the Wolverines, will take the field together but for opposite teams.

The Mid-American Conference Tournament, scheduled for May 8-11 will be held at a neutral site for the first time post-COVID as it is slated to take place at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio.

Central Michigan looks to make the conference tournament for the third consecutive season as the coaching staff enters their fifth season with the program.

Central Michigan University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Emma Lotus

Michaleigh Vallimont

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