STANFORD, Calif. — The Pac-12 released weekly matchups and locations for the league's 2021 softball season on Tuesday.
The schedule reflects eight weekends of competition between conference programs, with one open week for each team, with the conference slate running from March 19 to May 15.
Stanford has its conference bye weekend the first week of Pac-12 play. The Cardinal will open its conference slate at Utah, March 26-28, before returning home to host Arizona, April 1-3. Stanford will also host California (April 16-18), Oregon State (April 30 - May 2) and Washington (May 13-15), while road weekends will occur at Arizona State (April 9-11), Oregon (April 23-25) and UCLA (May 7-9).
The Stanford softball program returned to campus on Jan. 23 to begin its mandatory 10-day travel quarantine and medical onboarding process in preparation for the 2021 season.
Teams will play a four-game series each weekend, with a doubleheader on the second day of each series. Only three of the four games will count toward the Conference standings, meaning each team will play a total of 32 games against league opponents, but only 24 will count toward the determining the Pac-12 champion.
The two single games and the first game of the doubleheader, regardless of day, will count as conference games. If all four games are played, the second game on day two of each series will be counted as a non-conference game. If only three contests are completed in total, they will all count as conference games.
Pac-12 programs will also be permitted nonconference competitions beginning Feb. 11 and up to the traditional NCAA maximum of 56 total contests. Broadcast information, in addition to the non-conference portion of the schedule, will be announced once finalized.
While Stanford Athletics will continue striving to create an opportunity for student-athletes to compete in their upcoming season, all decisions regarding training and competition will be based on the conditions and the guidance provided to us by public health officials and our university administration. Accordingly, all competition dates are subject to change.
The Pac-12 Conference recently determined it would continue its prohibition on fan attendance at Pac-12 sport competitions taking place on Pac-12 campuses until further notice. Additionally, Santa Clara County's latest directive does not allow spectators to attend any practice, competition or other athletics event.
For news and other potential schedule updates, please be sure to follow Stanford softball on social media.