BROOKINGS — The South Dakota State softball program is looking ahead to the New Year as Jackrabbits head coach Kristina McSweeney released the team’s 2025 schedule, which begins in February.

SDSU’s campaign features a variety of opponents over the course of a scheduled 54-game slate. The schedule includes six NCAA Tournament teams from 2024 and six sets of conference series.

“We are really excited to see what our team has in store when we open the 2025 season,” McSweeney said. “We have quite a few faces to replace, so we wanted to be able to provide ourselves an opportunity to compete throughout our non-conference schedule. Our season will be our first on our new turf, which we are thrilled about, but we have a lot of room to grow before we get to play at home this spring.”

South Dakota State begins 2025 with two consecutive tournament appearances in Texas. The Jackrabbits will participate in the Lions Classic, hosted by East Texas A&M, on Feb. 7-9. They follow that with a showing at Tarleton State’s Whataburger Invitational on Feb. 14-16. Those tournaments will make up 11 games of SDSU’s schedule.

The Jackrabbits head to familiar facilities for their next two tournaments. SDSU will take part in Central Arkansas’ Michelle Short Memorial Classic on Feb. 21-23, then play in five games in a Wichita-State hosted event running on Feb. 27-March 2. Those two showings will see SDSU take on regular College World Series participant Oklahoma State twice.

SDSU will have a set of five games during a stretch between March 7-11. The first three days of the span will see the Jacks partake in Nebraska’s Big Red Spring Classic in Lincoln. After a five-game appearance there, South Dakota State plays in St. Louis on March 11 in a pair of matchups versus Saint Louis and Northern Illinois.

The Jackrabbits’ last tournament appearance of the non-conference schedule will have the Yellow and Blue participate in the Mizzou Invitational on March 13-15. SDSU sees three NCAA teams a season ago at the event, including Super Regional host Missouri, along with Princeton and Michigan.

With Summit League play on the horizon, South Dakota State is slated to face Iowa in a doubleheader in Iowa City on March 25. The Jacks then travel to Kansas City to play the Roos in their league-opening series on March 29-30.

The Jackrabbits will host South Dakota on April 5-6. A part of the Interstate Series, presented by First Interstate Bank, the series is scheduled to be the first on the new turf surface at the Jacks’ home field.

Four series close out the regular season campaign for South Dakota State. SDSU will play at St. Thomas (April 12-13) and North Dakota (May 2-3). The Jackrabbits are scheduled to host North Dakota State (April 18-19) and Omaha (April 26-27).

South Dakota State, as part of earning the 2024 Summit League regular season championship, will again host the conference tournament championship. The 2025 Summit League Softball Championship is set to be in Brookings on the SDSU campus on May 7-10.