Virginia Announces 2025 Softball Schedule

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia head softball coach Joanna Hardin announced the 2025 softball schedule on Friday (Dec. 6) with a slate that features 29 home games, including the Mizuno Classic at Palmer Park, the Party At Palmer Invitational and four home series in ACC play.

Ticket information for the 2025 season will be forthcoming.

Virginia begins the series with back-to-back weekends on the road at the Gamecock Invitational (Feb. 6-9) at South Carolina and the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational (Feb. 13-16) in Clearwater, Fla. At the Gamecock Invitational, the Hoos will face South Carolina, ECU, Toledo and Saint Francis. The Clearwater Invitational features games against Kentucky, Auburn, Texas A&M, San Diego State and UCLA.

The Cavaliers then play at home in consecutive weekends with the Mizuno Classic (Feb. 20-23) and the Party At Palmer Invitational (Feb. 28 – March 2). In the Mizuno Classic, the Hoos host Delaware, UConn, Longwood and Penn. The Party At Palmer Invitational will feature games against Cornell, Seton Hall and Hofstra.

Other non-conference action at home includes games against Longwood (March 4), JMU (March 11), George Mason (March 18), Maryland (April 1), Radford (April 15) and Liberty (April 30). The Hoos also travel for non-conference games at Liberty (April 8) and JMU (April 22).

The Cavaliers will host four series in ACC play: Boston College (March 14-16), Cal (March 21-23), Syracuse (April 11-13) and Louisville (April 17-19). Virginia will go on the road for ACC series at Virginia Tech (March 7-9), Notre Dame (March 28-30), FSU (April 4-6) and Stanford (April 25-27).

The ACC Championships will be hosted by Boston College (May 6-10), while NCAA Regional play will begin the weekend of May 16-18. 

NOTES ON THE SCHEDULE AND THE HOOS

• The Cavaliers return two All-Region and All-ACC First Team honorees right-handed pitcher Eden Bigham and shortstop Jade Hylton. Also returning is ACC All-Freshman selection Bella Cabral.
• The Hoos are coming off a 34-20 campaign a year ago that saw Virginia advance to the championship game of the NCAA Regional in Knoxville.
• Virginia will play 22 games against teams that made the 2024 NCAA Tournament with 18 of those games coming on the road or in neutral-site contests.
• Virginia plays in the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational presented by ESPN in the second weekend of play and will face five teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, including WCWS participant UCLA and three SEC teams in Auburn, Kentucky and Texas A&M.
• The schedule features two first-time opponents for the Hoos in Cornell and Penn.
• The Cavaliers will face both new ACC members that have softball programs with Cal visiting Charlottesville for the first time and the Hoos traveling to Stanford for the first time. All eight previous games against the two programs have come at neutral sites.
• Virginia will not face Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina or Pittsburgh in ACC play.

THE 2025 SCHEDULE BY THE NUMBERS
53 Games: 29 Home Games | 16 Away Games |  8 Neutral Site Games 

2024 NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS ON THE SCHEDULE (12): Auburn (Regional), Cal (Regional), Florida State (Super Regional), Kentucky (Regional,  Liberty (Regional), San Diego State (Regional),Saint Francis (Regional) South Carolina (Regional), Stanford (WCWS), UCLA (WCWS), Texas A&M (Super Regional), Virginia Tech (Regional).