Twenty-one meetings with 2004 NCAA tournament participants and 25 home contests highlight the 2005 University of Kentucky softball schedule, first-year head coach Eileen Schmidt announced Wednesday.

?Our schedule will be tough this year,? Schmidt said. ?We?ll be on the road for the first four weeks of the season and that?s hard enough, but we will also be playing tough top-25 competition. We know that we have to bring our game out right from the start.?

The Wildcats will compete in four top-caliber tournaments to begin the season, which starts Feb. 4 in Miami, Fla., including events hosted by Florida International, Houston, Stanford and UT-Chattanooga. The Wildcats will again host the Kentucky Invitational on March 5-6 to open the home schedule.

The home slate features nationally prominent teams and Southeastern Conference rivals Florida and South Carolina, while the Cats will play host to intrastate foes Louisville and Western Kentucky at the UK Softball Complex. 2004 College World Series participants LSU and Stanford are both featured on UK?s road schedule this season.

Entering her first season with UK, Schmidt is no stranger to the rigors of SEC play, having spent seven years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Arkansas (1995-2002) and one season (1995) as an assistant at South Carolina. She compiled a 62-61 record as the head coach at Northwestern State.

Kentucky finished the 2004 season with a 25-31-1 record, including a 6-24 mark in the SEC. The Wildcats return 15 letterwinners from last year?s squad, which posted the program?s best record in three years.