After Mother Nature cancels home opener, Aggie softball scheduled for Friday
Packed weekend features San Jose State, Boise State, St. Mary's
Hoping to avoid the raindrops that cancelled Thursday's season-opening softball doubleheader against visiting Idaho State, UC Davis will now open the 2025 campaign Friday against Utah Valley.
Game time at La Rue Field on the UC Davis campus is 2:30 p.m.
Since the Idaho State games will not be made up, what started as a six-game home stand is now down to four, with San Jose State coming in Saturday at 2:30 p.m., followed by two games Sunday beginning with Boise State at noon and St. Mary's at 2:30 p.m.
Aggie softball will welcome a handful of new faces this season as UCD tackles a 53-game schedule, including 27 games in the Big West Conference, followed by the first-ever conference tournament to end the season.
Erin Thorpe, entering her 11th season as Aggie boss, has a collection of returning Aggies and a large group of incoming freshmen who will all play a role.
“We are young, but we are also excited to see how this team comes together because of the opportunities we have for them to make an impact,” said Thorpe.
"We are excited about the returning core we have, and with the Big West hosting the first-ever championship tournament, it means we have a new and exciting opportunity.
“We have a challenging pre-conference schedule, and with a predominantly young team we should be able to challenge them early and show that we should be ready to compete against anybody."
Highlighting the returning Aggies is reigning Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year and Preseason All-Conference selection Ashley Sawai. Sawai, a sophomore, posted a 2.75 ERA last year and struck out 34 batters in 71.1 innings.
Sophomore Caroline Grimes, who threw 56.0 innings during 2024, joins incoming freshman Alyssa Dethlefson to round out the Aggie pitching staff.
In the field, the Aggies return starters Grace Kilday, a senior, and sophomores Marley Panziera and Gia Felice. Kilday played and started in 42 games last season, while Panziera played in 39 games and Felice started 20 games and saw action in 36.
Joining the returning starting Aggies with experience are seniors Bella Holtz, Sophia Eftekhari, juniors Sydney Polli, Mickey Buscemi, Maddie Taylor and Bri Weekes, and sophomores Olivia McFarland and Kayla Macias. Freshmen Vanessa Calvillo, Naomi Kalanetra, Claire Shelton, Rylee Reeves, Keira Brady, Sofia Anderson, Amanda Baldwin and Dethlefson round out the incoming Aggies who all will look to play a role for the Aggies.
UCD finished 21-29 last spring, including 12-15 in Big West play, but finished on a high note by sweeping three games at Hawaii.
As part of its 53-game schedule, UC Davis will see programs from the Atlantic Coastal Conference, BIG 10 and the Southeastern Conference, while hosting 23 home games. Those home match-ups include California and Fresno State, plus a home-and-home against Causeway Cup rival Sacramento State. UCD will also host four Big West Conference weekends, three games each, starting March 15 when Cal Poly comes to town.
After the opening weekend at home, the Aggies become road warriors with tournament action at both Stanford and Arizona, the latter including a date with No. 1 Texas.
The Big West’s top six teams will compete for the conference title in the inaugural 2025 Big West Softball Championship, with the champion earning an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
The four-day double-elimination format sees the top two teams with a first-round bye.
Single game tickets for the 23 Aggie home games are all general admission and run $10 for adults and $8 for youth and seniors. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets for $8 each.