LAKELAND, Fla. - Southeastern head softball coach,
Kayla Watkins, announced the 2025 Fire game schedule today.
Watkins enters her sixth year as head coach. After a 40-19 season and an appearance in the NAIA National Tournament, the program has their eyes set on a third consecutive trip to the tournament. "This squad has worked hard all fall and has come together as a special unit," said Watkins. "They enjoy one another on and off the field, which has helped us really work towards the goals that we have for the spring."
The journey begins February 7th as the Fire host Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in a doubleheader and turn around with Thomas University the next day for two before heading out for an early-season trip to Georgia. There they will face 2024 NAIA World Series qualifier Georgia Gwinnett as one of their two opponents on the trip.
"The SSAC is always competitive, so to open our year crossing over with them will be good," said Watkins. "After that we will then have a kind of uncharacteristic trip up to Georgia in February, where we will see Thomas again and will match up with Georgia Gwinnett, who traditionally is very good, and currently sits at #9 in the NAIA."
The Fire take their annual trip to the Gulf Shores Invitational in Alabama March 7-9 for the premier NAIA softball tournament in the country. They will face five teams, including Houston - Victoria, who is receiving votes in the NAIA pre-season poll, and #3 University of the Cumberlands, who also appeared in the NAIA World Series last year.
The Fire move into Sun Conference play on March 13th as they face Warner University, whom they defeated in the first round of the Sun Conference Tournament last year.
Watkins expressed her excitement for the Sun Conference schedule, "I think The Sun Conference is going to be extremely competitive again, and we are excited about that," added Watkins. "In our 2022 run to the World Series, we had to fight through a tough conference schedule. The better our conference is, the better our opportunity to compete in the postseason, so we are looking forward to that grind in March and April."
Watkins' perspective on The Sun Conference is backed up by the fact that three SUN schools are ranked in the NAIA preseason poll. St. Thomas leads the way at #19, while the Fire sit at #22, and Coastal Georgia rounds it out at #25.
"We will have a dynamic line up with power and speed, which should compete at a high level and create a great game-day experience for our fans. That coupled with competitive arms in the circle and a veteran defense gets us really pumped for opening day."
You can view the complete schedule
HERE.
