Kentucky’s 2020 softball schedule packed with challenges, including a date with Team USA
The University of Kentucky softball team, coming off a season in which it reached the NCAA Tournament’s super-regional round but fell short of the College World Series, has no plans to back down in 2020.
Rachel Lawson, entering her 13th season as Kentucky’s head coach, announced a typically ambitious schedule that features 35 games against teams that made last season’s NCAA Tournament, including six against squads that played in the 2019 College World Series.
Additionally, the Wildcats scheduled an exhibition game against the U.S. National Team to help prepare the squad for its appearance in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo next summer.
Kentucky has finished the past two seasons with the nation’s No. 1 strength-of-schedule rating. The Wildcats went 36-24 and bowed out against Washington in the super-regional round last season. UK finished in a three-way tie for second place in the Southeastern Conference with a 14-10 record.
Kentucky opens its 55-game schedule Feb. 7-9 with a trip to Clearwater, Fla., for the National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association Lead-Off Classic. UK will face Liberty and Texas State on opening day. The next day come North Carolina State and the U.S. National Team. The Cats wrap things up Sunday, Feb. 9 with a date against 2019 College World Series participant Minnesota.
Tournaments will then take Kentucky to Tempe, Ariz., Feb. 14-16, to Birmingham, Ala., Feb. 21-23 and to North Orlando, Fla., Feb. 28-March 1 before the Wildcats finally play their home opener.
Kentucky’s season-opening stretch of 21 road games (22 counting the exhibition) comes to an end when Texas A&M visits John Cropp Stadium in Lexington March 7-9, the first of 16 home games in 2020.
In addition to the visit from the Aggies, UK will play SEC series at home against 2019 CWS participant Florida, plus Tennessee and Arkansas. The Cats will play conference road series at Mississippi State, Georgia, Missouri and Mississippi.
UK will also take on five in-state foes this coming season: Louisville, Northern Kentucky and Morehead State at home, and Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky on the road.
Kentucky takes advantage of an SEC bye weekend to squeeze in another of last year’s World Series teams, Oklahoma. The Cats will face the four-time national champion Sooners in Norman, Okla., April 10-11.
The 2020 SEC Tournament is set for May 5-9 at Alabama.
2020 UK softball schedule
All times Eastern
Home games in all capital letters
FEBRUARY
7-Liberty, noon, and Texas State, 2:30 p.m., in NFCA Lead-Off Classic at Clearwater, Fla.; 8-North Carolina State, 10 a.m., and U.S. National Team (exhibition), 5:30 p.m., in NFCA Lead-Off Classic at Clearwater, Fla.; 9-Minnesota, 11 a.m., in NFCA Lead-Off Classic at Clearwater, Fla.; 14-Boise State, 5 p.m., and Arizona State, 10 p.m., in Littlewood Classic at Tempe, Ariz.; 15-Illinois State, 5 p.m., and Arizona State, 10 p.m., in Littlewood Classic at Tempe, Ariz.; 16-Detroit, 3:30 p.m., in Littlewood Classic at Tempe, Ariz.; 19-At Middle Tennessee State, TBA; 21-Georgia Tech, 1:30 p.m., and Samford, 6:30 p.m., in Samford Tournament at Homewood, Ala.; 22-DePaul, 11 a.m., and Georgia Tech, 1:30 p.m., in Samford Tournament at Birmingham, Ala.; 23-DePaul, noon, in Samford Tournament at Homewood, Ala.; 27-At Central Florida, 6 p.m.; 28-Loyola Chicago, 3:30 p.m., and Florida International, 6 p.m., at Perfect Game Inc. Florida Spring Invitational at North Orlando, Fla.; 29-Western Michigan, 1:30 p.m., and Detroit, 4 p.m., at Perfect Game Inc. Florida Spring Invitational at North Orlando, Fla.
MARCH
1-Dartmouth, 11:35 a.m., at Perfect Game Inc. Florida Spring Invitational at North Orlando, Fla.; 7-9-TEXAS A&M, TBA; 11-MARSHALL, TBA; 13-15-At Mississippi State, TBA; 17-NORTHERN KENTUCKY, TBA; 18-At Miami (Ohio), 5 p.m.; 20-22-FLORIDA, TBA; 25-At Western Kentucky, 7 p.m.; 27-29-TENNESSEE; 31-At Ohio State, TBA.
APRIL
4-6-At Georgia, TBA; 8-MOREHEAD STATE, 6 p.m.; 10-11-At Oklahoma, 7:30 p.m., 1 p.m.; 17-19-At Missouri, TBA; 22-At Eastern Kentucky, 6:30 p.m.; 24-26-ARKANSAS, TBA; 29-LOUISVILLE, 6:30 p.m.
MAY
1-3-At Mississippi, TBA; 6-9-Southeastern Conference Tournament at Tuscaloosa, Ala.