The slate for Penn State softball’s 2019 season is locked and loaded, highlighted by multiple trips to Florida for early-season tournaments and the usual Big Ten lineup against east division opponents as well as crossover games with Wisconsin and Purdue.

The schedule includes just four teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament last season — Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and St. Francis — but has a number of RPI Top 100 finishers that just missed out, like Pitt, Florida Gulf Coast, and FIU.

Penn State will be on the road competing in tournaments for the first several weekends of the season, playing 25 games during that time frame. Outside of the Sunshine State tournaments, the Nittany Lions will also participate in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge — heading to Duke for four games against the Blue Devils and Syracuse.

The team’s home opener is Wednesday, March 20: a doubleheader against Robert Morris. Penn State will have seven homes series, including four Big Ten sets with Wisconsin, Ohio State, Rutgers, and Indiana. Non-conference opponents St. Francis and Bucknell will also come to Beard Field for Wednesday doubleheaders in April.

The Big Ten Tournament heads to the Indiana Hoosiers’ Andy Mohr Field May 9-11. Finishing 13th out of 14 conference teams last season, Penn State hopes to not miss the 12-team tournament for the second-straight year.

Full Schedule: 
(Home games in bold, Big Ten play in italics)

• Feb. 8-10 — FGCU Tournament  (Florida Gulf Coast, Ball State, LIU Brooklyn, and Kent State)
• Feb. 15-17 — ACC-Big Ten Challenge (Duke and Syracuse)
• Feb. 23-24 — UCF Knights Classic (George Washington, Coastal Carolina, and Pitt)
• March 1-3 — Madeira Beach Tournament (Boston College, FIU, Detroit Mercy, FAMU, and Central Michigan)
• March 6 — vs. Penn and Villanova (in Clearwater, FL)
• March 8-10 — USF Tournament (Holy Cross, South Dakota State, Central Michigan, St. Joseph’s, and Toledo)
• March 20 — Robert Morris (doubleheader)
• March 22-24 — Michigan State
  
• March 27 — Pitt
  
• March 29-31 — Wisconsin
• April 3 — St. Francis (doubleheader)
• April 5-7 — Purdue
• April 9 — Ohio State
• April 12-14 — Rutgers
• April 19-21 — Maryland
• April 24 — Bucknell (doubleheader)
• April 26-28 — Michigan
• May 3-5 — Indiana
• May 9-11 — Big Ten Tournament (in Bloomington, IN)