Defiance College softball announces schedule for upcoming 2025 season

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The 48-game schedule for the Defiance College softball team was announced ahead of the program's 45th season, the Athletic Department announced on Thursday.

Eyeing a fourth-straight conference tournament bid under second-year coach Jordan Osborne, Defiance softball is primed to play the most games in program history. DC has 48 games on the schedule with the 2009 NCAA Tournament team holding the mark for most games played in a season. 

The new membership in the NAIA opens up a longer schedule in regard to games and the calendar. The Jackets are slated to open the season at home against Indiana Wesleyan to start out the schedule of all-NAIA opponents. Defiance will play eight games in five days to open the season with in-state trips to Rio Grande and Ohio Christian before hosting Huntington on Feb. 25. The Yellow Jackets will travel to Florida for the Space Coast Spring Games and play up to 10 contests over spring break, complementing the 19 doubleheaders in the remainder of the season. In addition to these non-conference battles, the Jackets will also compete against regional teams Taylor, Grace and IU South Bend.

"The Florida trip is a new to us tournament in Melbourne, Fla. that will be filled with great opportunities for our student-athletes," says Osborne. "After we return from spring break, we kick off conference play at home. We're very excited for the new challenges and opportunities we will face this year!"

The 24-game schedule within the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference begins upon their return on March 21 against Cornerstone followed by another conference twin bill against UNOH the next day. DC will play all their home conference games in the span of four weeks and will end the regular season with three straight road doubleheaders at Madonna, Aquinas and Concordia. The WHAC Tournament takes the top eight teams in the standings and begins on April 30.

Under new affiliation in the NAIA and new conference membership, DC will see at least 11 first-time opponents on their schedule. Four of seven non-conference opponents (Rio Grande, OCU, Grace, IU South Bend) will face the Yellow Jackets for the first time ever while seven of 12 WHAC schools will do the same (Cornerstone, UNOH, Lourdes, Rochester Christian, Cleary, UM-Dearborn, Lawrence Tech)

All game times will be updated on the softball schedule webpage at a later date. The complete 2025 DC softball schedule is listed below.

2025 Softball Schedule
Feb. 21 vs. Indiana Wesleyan
Feb. 22 at Rio Grande
Feb. 23 at Ohio Christian
Feb. 25 vs. Huntington
Mar. 4 at Taylor
Mar. 5 vs. Grace
Mar. 8-14 at Space Coast Spring Games (10 games)
Mar. 21 vs. Cornerstone*
Mar. 22 vs. UNOH*
Mar. 25 at IU South Bend
Mar. 29 vs. Siena Heights*
Mar. 30 at Lourdes*
Apr. 2 at Rochester Christian*
Apr. 5 vs. Cleary*
Apr. 9 at Indiana Tech*
Apr. 12 vs. UM-Dearborn*
Apr. 13 vs. Lawrence Tech*
Apr. 16 at Madonna*
Apr. 19 at Aquinas*
Apr. 23 at Concordia*
Apr. 30-May 2 WHAC Tournament (Top 8)

*Denotes WHAC game

-JACKETS-