PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College softball will travel to Florida for the first time since 2019 and play two teams that made it to National Semifinals last spring, during their 2025 schedule. 
 
Fresh off their best season in program history, Lewis & Clark will look to make the Northwest Conference Tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history and take another step further during the 2025 season. 
 
Lewis & Clark will kick off the season with back-to-back non-conference, home doubleheaders on February 15 and 16. The Pioneers will welcome Warner Pacific University to the Huston Sports Complex for a doubleheader at Noon and 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 15. Softball has won three of the past four meetings against the Knights, including finishing one out shy of a combined no-hitter -  in a 7-0 win over Warner Pacific on March 29, 2023. The following day Lewis & Clark will take on a talented Oregon Institute of Technology team that finished 49-12 last season and placed fourth at the NAIA World Series. It will be the first meeting between the two programs since 2011. 
 
Softball will play a rare non-conference tune-up against Northwest Conference foe Pacific University on Sunday, March 2, before opening conference play the following weekend. 
 
Lewis & Clark travels to take on Willamette University in Salem on March 8 and 9 in both teams NWC openers. Both programs made the NWC Tournament last season, with the Pioneers finishing in second place and Willamette claiming the fourth and final tournament berth. Softball swept the Bearcats (4-0) in 2023 and won the first four games on their new turf field by a combined 25-5 margin. 
 
The Pioneers host Pacific the following weekend (March 15 and 16) in their NWC home opening weekend. Lewis & Clark has dominated the Boxers the past two seasons with seven wins in eight meetings. 
 
Lewis & Clark will take advantage of Spring Break to travel to Clermont, Florida to play at the Spring Games. The Pioneers will play six games in three days (March 23-25) and face off against four first-time opponents: Hamline University, Luther College, Westminster College (MO) and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Softball will also face two teams they played the last time they were in Florida in 2019: Colby College (8-7 loss) and Union College (8-2 win). 
 
The Pioneers will return to the Pacific Northwest later that week and resume conference play with a home weekend against Whitworth University on April 5-6. 
 
Lewis & Clark will face a difficult stretch in mid-April when they travel to the other two teams that made the four-team NWC Tournament in back-to-back weeks. The Pioneers will travel to Tacoma to take on Pacific Lutheran University on April 12-13. The Lutes finished in third in the NWC standings last year and the two teams squared off twice in the NWC Tournament. Lewis & Clark defeated PLU 8-3 in the second game of the NWC Tournament and then earned a comeback 8-7 win over the Lutes to punch their ticket to the NWC Championship Series. 
 
A week later, Lewis & Clark will return to McMinnville to play four games against Linfield University. The Wildcats finished 50-4 last season and made it to the DIII College World Series Semifinals. The defending NWC Champions defeated Lewis & Clark in all six meetings last season but three of the six games were decided by two runs or less. 
 
Lewis & Clark will return home to host six of their final eight games in the regular season. After a four-game home set against the University of Puget Sound, the Pioneers will host George Fox University on May 4 for Senior Day. The Pioneers took the series from the Bruins 3-1 last year and earned three-straight wins over George Fox for the first time since 2009. 
 
Head coach Shawna Cyrus' squad returns 21 of their 23 players from the 2024 team that set program records for overall wins (28-16) and conference wins (20-8). The Pioneers bring back all eight of their All-Conference honorees and 12 of the 13 players who started 17 games or more. 
 
Fifth-year senior Sam Gildersleeve returns after being named a Second Team All-Region honoree as a senior. She led the squad with 10 home runs, 42 runs batted in and 14 stolen bases. Sophomore Harper Campanella was named to the NWC All-Conference First Team after piling up 18 extra-base hits, 38 RBI and 81 total bases in her first season. Graduate student Mari Alvarez is aiming to earn All-Conference honors for a fifth-straight season. Alvarez ranks among the program's all-time leaders in career hits (138), RBI (86), doubles (28) and on-base percentage (.442). 
 
Lewis & Clark also returns their two aces in juniors Maggie O'Leary and Charlize Pope. O'Leary earned First Team All-Conference plaudits after leading the Pioneers staff with 14 wins, 112 strikeouts and three saves. Pope carved out a spot on the NWC Second Team and led the staff team in earned run average (2.33), innings pitched (123.1) and opponent's batting average (.212). As a team, Lewis & Clark set the program record for strikeout (225), saves (six) and finished one shutout (six) of tying the program record for shutouts in a single-season.