FARGO, N.D.--Four teams that advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament and hosting the Summit League Championship tournament (May 14-15)  highlight the 2010 schedule for defending Summit League women's softball champion North Dakota State University. NDSU head coach Darren Mueller made the announcement today.

North Dakota State opens the season with five straight tournaments including Arizona State's Kajikawa Classic on Feb. 12-14 in Phoenix. The Bison play three teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament last year in the season-opening weekend including Portland State, Arizona and Purdue. Host Arizona State and Arizona advanced to the College World Series last season. The Sun Devils defeated NDSU in an NCAA Super Regional.

Trips to the University of South Florida tournament (Feb. 19-21), UC Santa Barbara's Gaucho Classic (Feb. 25-27), the Colorado State Classic (March 5-7) and the Texas A&M Aggie Invitational (March 12-14), along with doubleheaders at Houston (March 16) and Sam Houston State (March 17) are part of a rugged non-league schedule. Texas A&M is the other team that advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2009.

"We feel we put a challenging schedule together this season," said NDSU head coach Darren Mueller, who led the Bison to the 2009 NCAA Norman Regional and Summit League championships. NDSU finished the 2009 season with a 38-20 record overall, ranked 18th in the final ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, and ranked 21st in the final USA Today/NFCA poll.

"We need to continue to playing strong preseason opponents to get us ready for a tough league season."

North Dakota State opens Summit League play at Centenary (March 19-20) and IUPUI (March 26-27) before starting an nine-date, 14-game regular season home schedule on April 3-4 with IPFW at the Ellig Sports Complex.

The Bison, who are 13-2 in Fargo over the past two seasons, are also scheduled to host South Dakota (April 6), Western Illinois (April 16-17), Southern Utah (April 23-24) and UMKC (April 30-May 1). The four-team Summit League tournament is scheduled for May 14-15 at the Ellig Sports Complex.

North Dakota State's schedule includes 12 first-time opponents including UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Northridge, Hofstra, Houston, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Ohio University, Purdue, Sam Houston State, Texas A&M, Utah State and Wright State.