ORLANDO, Fla. – Highlighted by 16 teams that reached the postseason and three that reached the Women's College World Series, the UCF softball team has released its 2022 schedule.
The Knights will play 56 games during the 2022 regular season, facing 35 different opponents, 23 of which posted a winning record in 2021. UCF will face 10 opponents that finished the season in the NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, including an additional five teams that finished the year receiving votes. The Knights will play at home in 31 of the 56 matchups, featuring some big opponents visiting the UCF Softball Complex.
"We can't thank our administration and facilities crew enough for creating an environment that allows us to host World Series level programs throughout the year," said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. "During the recruiting process, we told every one of our student-athletes that we were committed to playing the best schedule in the country. These women signed up to compete for a top 16 seed and host regionals at The Plex and we play a schedule that reflects that mentality. It will be an awesome experience for Team XXI to represent Knight Nation on ESPN all over the country."
BY THE NUMBERS
56 Games
31 Home games
23 Top 100 RPI opponents
22 Games in Florida to begin 2022
16 NCAA Tournament participants
14 Top 50 RPI opponents
10 Teams that Finished 2021 in the NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll
9 Top 25 RPI opponents
6 Super Regional participants
6 Florida opponents
3 Women's College World Series participants
3 Top 10 RPI opponents
THE SCHEDULE
The Black and Gold begin the season at home, hosting Georgia on Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. for Opening Knight. The Bulldogs are one of the three teams on UCF's schedule that reached the Women's College World Series and finished the year as the eighth ranked team in the country.
UCF's opening weekend continues at home, as they'll host three more teams in the Black & Gold Classic. The Knights will face Minnesota, Fresno State and Longwood from Feb. 11-12 before welcoming Liberty to Orlando on Feb. 15. Four of UCF's first five opponents of 2022 at least made it to regionals of the NCAA Tournament in 2021.
The Knights' second weekend of the campaign is a big one as they'll take part in the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational, the nation's premiere softball tournament. UCF will play in six games in Clearwater from Feb. 17-20, four of them coming against teams that finished 2021 ranked in the top 25. The weekend will feature matchups against Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Texas and Florida State. Every game will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, with UCF's opener against Wisconsin televised on ESPNU on Feb. 17 at 1 p.m.
The Black and Gold will play their first road game of the season on Feb. 23 as they visit FIU for a 2 p.m. contest.
The Knights will host their second and final tournament of the year, welcoming Ole Miss, James Madison, DePaul, Florida and Oakland to the Knights Classic from Feb. 25-28. Every opponent on UCF's slate for the tournament finished 2021 at least 10 games over .500, with James Madison reaching the College World Series, Florida making the Super Regionals and Ole Miss finishing the year in Regionals. James Madison finished the season ranked fourth in the nation while the Gators checked in at No. 9.
UCF will host South Carolina and FGCU from March 3-6, playing a two-game set with the Gamecocks on the fourth and fifth and face the Eagles for three contests during the weekend.
The Black and Gold will travel to the west coast the second week in March, playing seven games in six days. The California trip will begin at Pacific on March 8 before visiting Fresno State the following day. UCF will then travel even further south in The Golden State, heading to Long Beach, Calif. for the Judi Garman Classic. The Knights will face Boston, Iowa State, Cal State Fullerton, Nebraska and Long Beach State from March 11-13 to finish off the road trip.
The Knights will return to The Plex for a midweek matchup against Ohio State on March 15 before hosting Furman for a three-game series on March 19-20.
UCF will hit the road to face a pair of Florida foes, visiting War On I-4 rivals South Florida from March 25-27 in their first series of American Athletic Conference play. From Tampa, the Knights will head to Gainesville to finish off an in-season home-and-home on March 30.
April begins with Virginia Tech visiting Orlando on the third and fourth of the month with the Hokies fresh off an NCAA Super Regionals appearance, finishing 2021 ranked 14th in the country. The Knights will visit North Florida on April 6 to wrap up their non-conference schedule.
UCF resumes conference play as they'll host Memphis and ECU from April 8-10 and 14-16 respectively. The Knights will head to Houston from April 22-24 before returning home to host Tulsa from April 29-May 1. The Black and Gold conclude the regular season at Wichita State from May 6-8, a rematch of the 2021 American Athletic Conference championship match.
The American Athletic Conference postseason tournament will take place in Greenville, N.C. from May 12-14. NCAA Regionals takes place on May 20-22 with Super Regionals happening from May 27-29. The Women's College World Series will be hosted in Oklahoma City on June 2-7.
All of UCF's home games during the 2022 season are scheduled to be broadcasted on ESPN+.
A LOOK BACK
The Knights finished the 2021 season with a 41-19-1 record, reaching the final of the American Athletic Conference Championship as well as the NCAA Tallahassee Regional. The Black and Gold earned three wins over top five teams, beating No. 2 Arizona 2-0 and sweeping No. 5 Florida in an in-season home-and-home, earning 8-6 and 7-0 victories. UCF finished the year just outside of the NFCA Top 25, receiving votes in the final poll of 2021.
"Offensively, we have a ton of speed throughout the lineup and although we graduated some power from last year's team, we have both newcomers and returners that are going to step into those power roles nicely for us this season," said Ball-Malone. "We have a young pitching staff, but I believe in their ability to compete, work together and get outs. We have a solid defense with strong arms. As long as we commit to taking care of the ball, we will be in great shape this year."
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