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Lexington, Ky. – Kentucky softball head coach Rachel Lawson announced her team’s 2023 schedule Thursday evening on BBN Tonight, unveiling a 55-game slate that includes 36 games against NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago, eight World Series teams from 2022 and 2020. Home games at John Kropp Stadium in Lexington.
The 2023 schedule includes eight games against five different teams making the 2022 Women’s College World Series, 14 games against seven Super Regional teams from a year ago and five pre-conference tournaments, including the return of the John Kropp Classic to the Bluegrass.
For the second time in four years, Kentucky will open its season Feb. 10-12 at the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Lead-Off Classic in Clearwater, Florida. UK will play St. John’s to open the season on Feb. 10, followed by an opening day rivalry game with Louisville in the afternoon. The Wildcats will close the opening weekend against Pitt, Southern and a Sunday matchup with national runner-up Texas on February 12 at 12:30pm ET.
Kentucky will then venture to play in the North Texas Mean Green Tournament in Denton, Texas with fifth-year catcher Kayla Kowalik on Feb. Homecoming will be held from 17-19. UK will play against UT-Arlington, McNeese, South Dakota, North Texas and Sam Houston State.
UK returns to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, one of college softball’s premier tournaments, on Feb. 23-25 in Palm Springs, Calif., where the Wildcats will compete against Loyola-Marymount on Tuesday after a quick midweek stop in Los Angeles. At Mary Nutter, Kentucky will face Washington, San Diego State, UCLA, Northwestern and UC-Riverside.
Oklahoma, the back-to-back national champions, calls to UK in the fourth week of the season as the Wildcats will make a return trip to Norman to compete in the tournament the first weekend of March. Kentucky plays the Sooners twice and UIC twice on March 3 and 4, the final weekend of non-conference action.
March 8 marks the home opener for Kentucky of the 2023 season as Kentucky hosts Dayton at John Kropp Stadium for a Wednesday midweek affair with the Flyers.
The 2023 Southeastern Conference schedule begins March 10 with a three-game series against the Tigers in Columbia, Missouri. Mizzou is one of four teams playing on the road in the SEC this season, joining Georgia (April 1-3), Ole Miss (April 7-9) and Mississippi State (April 28-30). As already announced, the home SEC slate features Texas A&M (March 24-26), Tennessee (April 14-16), Arkansas (April 21-23) and Florida on Senior Weekend (May 5-7).
The John Cropp Classic makes its triumphant return in 2023 with Kentucky hosting the two-day event, including Michigan, under the direction of first-year head coach Bonnie Tholl, Longwood and DePaul. UK will play UM twice with match-ups with the Wolverines scheduled for March 18 and 19.
The annual on-campus rivalry game with Louisville takes place this season on March 29 at John Kropp Stadium in Lexington. The Wildcats dominated the Cards at Derby City a year ago to extend their winning streak in the series.
Midweek contests for UK this season include home contests with Dayton, Liberty, Louisville and Eastern Kentucky. Wildcat road trips in 2023 will be midweeks to St. Louis (SLU), Bellarmine and Northern Kentucky.
The 2023 SEC Tournament will be hosted by Arkansas from May 9-13 at Bogle Park with the top four teams receiving a double-bye and teams ranked 1-11 receiving a single bye. The NCAA Selection Show will be on the ESPN family of networks Sunday, May 14 with regionals taking place May 18-21.
The 2023 Women’s College World Series will air June 1-9 from Oklahoma City live on ESPN and ESPN2.
2023 schedule by the numbers
55 Scheduled Games
8 Games from 2023 Vs. WCWS teams
65 Percentage of games against NCAA Tournament teams since 2022
20 Home games
5 Games Vs. Kentucky teams, with 3 From the people on the road
24 SEC games
For the latest information on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
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