MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois head softball coach Holly Van Vlymen announced the team's schedule for the upcoming 2011 season on Wednesday, Dec. 8.

The Fighting Leathernecks will again face tough tests in both the non-league and Summit League portions of its schedule. Western will face two teams which advanced to last year's NCAA Regionals as well as teams from the Big XII, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC.

"I'm excited about our schedule this year," said Van Vlymen. "We start off the season at Iowa State's tournament where we will face some good competition before heading south to play at Auburn.

"We were also able to schedule some games out west against Arizona State and UNLV before we start the heart of our conference play which will give us the opportunity to play teams from all over the country that utilize different strategies to get us ready for our tough conference schedule."

The Leathernecks will begin the season with matchups against Creighton, Iowa State and Valparaiso at the Iowa State Cyclone Invitational in Ames, Iowa from Feb. 11-13. Creighton reached the NCAA Columbia Regional last season.

The team will then head south to Auburn, Ala. where it will face four different opponents in three days at the Auburn University Tiger Invitational from Feb. 18-20. Western will face McNeese State, Western Carolina, Campbell and tournament host Auburn.

Western Illinois will take the following weekend to rest before it heads to Athens, Ohio for the University of Ohio Tournament on March 5 & 6. The Leathernecks will play two games each against the host Bobcats and Cleveland State.

The 2011 home-opener will also double as the team's Summit League opener when it welcomes league rival Oakland to Macomb on March 11 & 12.

The Leathernecks will head to the sunny and warm southwest for spring break to face Arizona (March 15) and UNLV (March 16) before returning to league action at Southern Utah (March 18-19).

Western steps out of league play again when it plays host to Wichita State in a doubleheader on March 23 before IUPUI comes to town for a weekend series (March 25-26).

The team will play at Loyola in a doubleheader on March 29 before welcoming the Iowa Hawkeyes to Macomb on March 30 for a single game.

The Leathernecks will then face one of their longest road-stretches of the season with games at UMKC (April 2-3), Bradley (April 6), IPFW (April 8-9) and UNI (April 12).

Western Illinois will return home on April 15 for a weekend series against North Dakota State in a rematch of last year's Summit League Championship.

Northern Illinois comes to town on April 15 for a doubleheader before the Leathernecks play host to Centenary in a Summit League series on April 22 & 23.

The team's final league action takes place at South Dakota State on April 29 & 30 before it plays host to Bradley in the regular-season home finale.

Western ends it's regular-season with doubleheader road matchups at Missouri (May 4) and Illinois (May 7). The 2011 Summit League Softball Championship takes place in Macomb from May 12-14.

The top four teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the league tournament. Western Illinois has won three of the last four Summit League Regular-Season titles and was the tournament champion during the 2008 campaign.