GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence softball team will play their home opener this weekend in a pair of double-headers against the defending National Champions, Southern Oregon.

"We're really excited because we haven't had this first game played at home in a couple of years," head coach Joey Egan said. "We're excited to host the returning National Champions and see what we're made of."

The Argos (1-7, 1-3) have gotten off to a slow start this season, but Egan has been encouraged made by the improvements the team has made each game. They'll have their hands full against the Timberjacks, who are currently ranked #1 in the nation.

"We want to prove that we're not that far off," Egan said. "We want to give them that confidence that they're close. They bring a confidence about them, almost a swagger and intensity. Once you've won a National Championship, you have this way about you. They just bring a ton of speed and just do everything right. We've been averaging a couple of errors every game but they rarely make an error. We'll have to play very solid defense if we want to compete."

To combat the Timberjacks speed, the Argos have spent a lot of practice time working on bunt coverage. However, Egan believes to be successful the team needs to focus on themselves and improving as a team.

"We've really been working on bunt coverage," Egan said. "Southern Oregon is extremely fast. They play the short-game quite a bit so we've been working on a ton of bunt coverage. But mainly, we want to stay within ourselves. We want to attack the strike zone with our pitches. As far as hitting goes, we want to lay off bad pitches."

The Argos will play their first double-header at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday. The second pair of games will begin at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday.