Ohio released its 2021 schedule on Wednesday.
The season is scheduled to begin Feb. 12 when the Bobcats travel down to Auburn for the Plainsman Invitational. There, they will play five games against Southeast Missouri State and Auburn.
Following the invitational, Ohio will begin a seven-game road trip from Feb. 27 to March 14. It will play three games against East Carolina and four against UNC Wilmington.
Ohio’s first home and Mid-American Conference game will be when Northern Illinois comes to the Ohio Softball Field on March 19. The Bobcats will play four games against the Huskies before Western Michigan comes to Athens the following weekend for another four-game series.
After that, Ohio will play two four-game series on the road against MAC opponents Kent State and Toledo from April 2 until April 11. The Bobcats will then return to Athens for a four-game series against Bowling Green, followed by two games where they will host Akron. Then, Ohio will travel to Muncie for four games against Ball State before it finishes its series against the Zips in Akron with two more games.
Similarly, Ohio’s next series will be split when it hosts Miami (OH) for two games before it travels to Oxford for two more. In between the split series, the Bobcats will host Buffalo for four games. Ohio will then conclude its regular season with a four-game series against Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant.
There will be no MAC Tournament this year. Instead, the MAC team with the best regular-season record will automatically make it into the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio was 11-15 in 2020 before the season was canceled due to COVID concerns. It was Kenzie Roark’s second year as head coach for the Bobcats.
