Softball Unveils 2017 Schedule

University of Louisville head softball coach Sandy Pearsall has announced the 2017 schedule which features nine games against top-25 opponents including 2016 national champion Oklahoma. The Cardinals will also host two tournaments as part of a 26-game home slate.

"This is a a very challenging schedule for us, but it's something I think we need not to prepare ourselves not only for ACC play, but also for post season play," said Pearsall. "The schedule that we put together will also challenge this team in terms of travel. We are going from coast-to-coast early on and that's always tough on a team, but we are prepared for that and I think it's going to add a lot of toughness to our team as we embrace the challenge of taking on top teams in Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Florida State – just to name a few."

Among Louisville's opponents are eight teams that played in the 2016 NCAA tournament including national champion Oklahoma and fellow Women's College World Series participant Florida State. The Cardinals will play a total of nine games against teams ranked in the top 25 and will have three contests with teams who were receiving votes at the end of the 2016 season.

Louisville will open the season in second week of February when the Cards travel to Las Vegas for UNLV's Sportco Kick-Off Classic where they will face Southern Utah, Kent State and Indiana State.

The following week, UofL will hit the road for Chapel Hill, N.C. for the 2017 ACC/Big 10 Challenge hosted by North Carolina. The Cards will face Big 10 foes Purdue and 2016 NCAA tournament team Ohio State in the second annual cross-conference competition.

Louisville will head west to wrap up the month of February at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic 2. While there, the Cards will take on 2016 Super Regional participant, No. 14/15 Arizona , No. 1 (and 2016 national champion) Oklahoma on day one. Day two of the tournament will feature a rematch of the 2016 NCAA elimination game between Louisville and BYU. The Cards will close out the tournament against California and Cal State Fullerton – both receiving votes in the final 2016 polls.

The Cards will kick off their home season with a 14-game home stand starting with the Red & Black Tournament which takes place March 3-5 and features Indiana State, Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Bowling Green. The following weekend, Ohio University, IUPUI, Wright State and Northern Iowa will visit Ulmer Stadium for the Louisville Tournament.

ACC play will begin on March 17-19 when Pittsburgh comes to town for a three-game series - this marks the first year the league will play a single game over a span of three days. Louisville will close out the home stand against Wisconsin on March 22.

UofL will return to conference play with a road trip to Syracuse before returning home to face Indiana in a midweek contest and No. 25 Notre Dame in an ACC series (March 31 – April 2).

Louisville will continue conference play with its first trip to Boston College the following weekend. The Cards will return to the friendly confines of Ulmer Stadium for an April 12 midweek matchup against in-state rival Kentucky, which finished the 2016 season at No. 17/18 in the coaches polls.

After a trip to Blacksburg, Va., for a three-game series at Virginia Tech, the Cardinals will return home for a seven-game stretch starting with a midweek tilt against Western Kentucky followed by a series with ACC power and 2016 Women's College World Series team No. 3 / 4 Florida State. Louisville will wrap up the home season and celebrate senior weekend against Virginia the last weekend of April.

The Cardinals will spend the first weekend of May in Raleigh, N.C. where they will face NC State in their regular season finale.

The top eight teams in the league will convene in Chapel Hill, N.C. , for the 2017 ACC Softball Championships which will be held at North Carolina's Anderson Stadium May 11-13.

Louisville closed the 2016 season with a 35-17 overall record and second-place regular-season finish in the ACC and earned its 13^th consecutive NCAA tournament berth. The Cards return 15 players from last year's team including All-ACC selections Maryssa Becker, Megan Hensley and Jordan McNary while welcoming five newcomers.

University of Louisville Athletics

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