Indiana, Michigan and defending Big Ten Tournament champion Nebraska will represent the Big Ten Conference at the 2023 TaxAct Clearwater Invitational in Clearwater, Fla., while Duke, Florida State and Virginia Tech will be the ACC contingent in the tournament. The head-to-head results between Big Ten and ACC schools at the event will count towards the final ACC/Big Ten Softball Challenge standings.
Four ACC schools will serve as host sites for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge — Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and NC State — with the other ACC participants being Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Virginia. Defending Big Ten champion Northwestern leads a group of eight Big Ten Conference softball programs competing in the Challenge — the others are Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin.
The ACC owns a 3-2 lead on the Big Ten during the first five years of the Challenge. The ACC won the Challenge in 2017, 2018 and 2020, with the Big Ten claiming the title in 2016 and 2019.
The ACC and Big Ten offices collaborate to determine the schedule each season, as the event returns for the first time since the 2020 season. In addition, the official title of the Challenge rotates each year. The 2023 event will be referred to as the ACC/Big Ten Softball Challenge and will continue to mirror the official title of the conferences’ Challenge agreements for men’s basketball, women’s basketball and volleyball.
Exact game dates and times, as well as television and online coverage, will be announced at a later date. The 2023 ACC/Big Ten Softball Challenge participants and site assignments can be found below.
2023 ACC/Big Ten Softball Challenge
(all games to be played Feb. 16-19, 2023)
Clearwater, Fla. (TaxAct Clearwater Invitational)
(results between Big Ten and ACC schools will count towards Challenge standings)
Big Ten – Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska
ACC – Duke, Florida State, Virginia Tech
Atlanta, Ga. (host – Georgia Tech)
Big Ten – Illinois, Wisconsin
ACC – Georgia Tech, Louisville
Chapel Hill, N.C. (host – North Carolina)
Big Ten – Maryland, Minnesota
ACC – North Carolina, Virginia
Clemson, S.C. (host – Clemson)
Big Ten – Northwestern, Ohio State
ACC – Clemson, Notre Dame
Raleigh, N.C. (host – NC State)
Big Ten – Iowa, Purdue
ACC – NC State, Syracuse
Big Ten Conference (bigten.org) is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching, and public service. Founded in 1896, Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness, and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 14 Big Ten institutions will provide over $200 million in direct financial support to more than 9,800 students for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. Big Ten sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s lacrosse since 2013.
