GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence softball team will kick off their season on Friday with a pair of double-headers against Bushnell.

The games were originally scheduled to be played in Great Falls, but were moved to Eugene, Ore. due to inclement weather. The games will begin at 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. MTN on Friday and 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. MTN on Saturday.

"We wish we could play here," head coach Joey Egan said. "It just depends on the week on if you could play here or not. If we played two weeks ago we probably have games in. We had to shift our mindset quickly. We're on the road to go play our first game instead of doing it here. That doesn't take away from the excitement of getting the season going. We're still going to play."

The games will be the first competition of the season for the Argos, who will jump immediately into conference play. The Beacons already have six games under their belt and are currently 1-5 in the season.The coaching staff, which includes new assistant coach Karsten Williams, has put in countless hours this year to ensure the team is prepared for the season.

"I'm so excited," Egan said. "The girls have been grinding and working hard. We've been counting this opening weekend down for awhile now so to have it coming up is really exciting."

The team returns a plethora of players from last year's campaign, including power-hitter Taylor Mathews, who was named 2^nd Team All-Conference last season. Mathews was dominant in the batter's box last season, leading the team in hits, RBI's, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and in both doubles and triples. In 101 at-bats, the centerfielder recorded 44 hits, brought 26 runners home and scored 23 runs herself. She also finished the season ranked 5^th in the Cascade Collegiate Conference in battling average (.436).

Also returning to the team is catcher McKenzie Staats, who the coaching staff is leaning on to be a big force for the squad this season. The team is also excited about several new additions to the team, including pitcher Carter Thornton.

"Taylor is a phenomenal hitter, a phenomenal athlete and a phenomenal leader," Egan said. "She guides our team in the right direction. Staats is our catcher and will be the captain of the field. We're also really excited about our new pitcher this year, Carter. She is hopefully going to be a real asset to our pitching staff."

The coaching staff has also spent time focusing on the mental part of the game, and have been pleased with how the team has responded to adversity so far this season. There's no better example than how the team responded about having their home opener moved to Oregon last-minute.

"Having the right mindset has been huge for us," Egan said. "Softball is a game of failure, so it's important to have the right mindset and have the mental capacity to deal with failure and overcome it and move on. The biggest thing is to recover and stay mentally focused and mentally tough. We didn't get much time to practice in the fall. We had to squeeze a lot in in a short period of time. They're doing a really good job of it. The mental focus and training has been a huge piece of the puzzle this year."