Pitt’s Vartabedian Field, the home of Panthers softball, will host the 2022 ACC Softball Championship, the program announced last Wednesday. It will be the first time Pitt has ever hosted the annual championship tournament.

The four-day tournament begins on May 11 and runs through May 14. The top 10 ACC teams by record will compete, with the top eight seeds earning first round byes.

Panthers head coach Jodi Hermanek highlighted recent facilities upgrades as one of the reasons why she’s eager to host the conference championship.

“The Panthers are really excited to host the ACC Championship tournament in 2022,” Hermanek said. “Softball fans in the Steel City are going to enjoy watching elite softball right here at Vartabedian Field. With our recent upgrades to the field including new turf, fence padding, logos and banners and without question the build of our new indoor batting facility, Pitt is ready to host a first-class atmosphere.”

Pitt has been to the ACC Tournament three times since joining the league in 2014, just barely missing a fourth berth this past season. 

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered the 2021 season, leading to most ACC teams playing an incongruent number of conference games due to multiple pandemic-induced game cancellations. Despite ending the regular season with more conference wins than the two teams directly ahead of them, Pitt fell to No. 11 in the ACC standings and missed making the postseason tournament field narrowly.

Pitt finished last season with a 12-24 record in conference play. Their dozen ACC victories were more than No. 10 North Carolina and No. 9 Georgia Tech, who held records of 10-19 and 11-19, respectively.

Ticketing information for the 2022 tournament will be provided at a later date, a release from Pitt softball said.