Kentucky Softball Invited to 2025 ESPN Shriners Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Softball team has been invited back into the most prestigious non-conference softball tournament in the nation for the 2025 season, as the Wildcats will participate in the Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational Presented by EvoShield next season.
The Wildcats took part in the tournament hosted by ESPN in its inaugural season of 2019 and went back to the Sunshine State in 2024 going 2-1 in the rain-shortened weekend of softball. Kentucky will play five games over a three-day stretch on the weekend with multiple top-25 teams in the field.
The 2025 edition of the tournament will take place Feb. 13-16 with all games televised on the ESPN family of networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network and ESPN+. The schedule of the full event including matchups, field assignments and television designations will be announced in the winter.
Ticket information will be released in the fall. Fans should be aware that 70 percent of the tickets for the 2024 edition of the event sold out on the on-sale date, so keep tabs on UKathletics.com, the UK Softball X account, as well as ESPN Events for information on the tickets.
Teams that will be participating in the event in addition to Kentucky include 2024 Women’s College World Series participants UCLA, Oklahoma State and Alabama. The full field for the 2025 ESPN Shriners Childrens Clearwater Invitational is Alabama, Auburn, Charlotte, Clemson, Florida State, Kentucky, Liberty, Missouri, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, San Diego State, Texas A&M, UCF, UCLA, Virginia and Wichita State.
NEW for 2024 – The Kentucky Softball Designated Players Club
The Designated Players is the Official Booster Program of Kentucky Softball. Financial contributions and community support through The Designated Players program, Kentucky Softball will be able to continue to develop our student-athletes on and off the field. To join The Designated Players, you can join online or click here to download the membership form and mail to the address listed. For more information, email Kristine Himes at kentuckysoftball@uky.edu or Larry Cash at Larry.Cash@uky.edu.
For the latest on UK Softball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKSoftball.
