The Georgia softball program and head coach Lu Harris-Champer announced their 2012 schedule on Wednesday. The Bulldogs will play a 56-game regular season schedule including 36 contests at home in the Jack Turner Softball Stadium.

The 2012 schedule features four regular-season tournaments and a 28-game Southeastern Conference slate. A total of 24 games will come against teams that advanced into the 2011 NCAA postseason tournament including 11 contests against six of the 16-nationally seeded teams. Additionally, 18 contests will be against teams ranked in the final USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top-25 Poll of 2011.

Georgia opens its 2012 campaign by hosting the Fifth-Annual Red & Black Showcase, Feb. 10-12, and the Bulldogs first game of the season will come against Army. A total of six teams will be in Athens for the Showcase as Campbell, North Carolina State, St. John’s and Utah State round out the field for the event.

UGA remains at home for the second weekend of the 2012 season by playing host to the Ninth-Annual Georgia Softball Classic, Feb. 17-19. Visiting teams for the Classic include Buffalo, Connecticut, Tennessee Tech, Western Illinois and Winthrop.

The Bulldogs then travel to California for their third tournament, the Cathedral City Classic, Feb. 23-25. In that tournament, Georgia will play against four teams ranked in the final NFCA Top-25 Poll of 2011 including Oklahoma (No. 7), Arizona (No. 11), Washington (No. 12) and UCLA (No. 19). The Bulldogs will also play Cal State Fullerton in the Cathedral City Classic.

After traveling out west, Georgia returns home for its next seven contests beginning with a midweek game against Gardner Webb on Feb. 29. Then the Bulldogs host their third home tournament and fourth overall tournament, the Fourth-Annual Bulldog Invitational, March 2-4. Invitational teams include Cleveland State, Mercer, Minnesota, Ohio and Rutgers. The seven-game home stand concludes with another midweek game on March 7 against Furman.

Georgia will then open SEC play on the road this season by going to Mississippi State for three games March 9-11. The Bulldogs will also play road SEC series at Ole Miss (March 23-25), at Tennessee (April 4), at Kentucky (April 13-15) and at LSU (April 27-29).

UGA’s first SEC home series will come against Auburn March 16-18, and the Bulldogs will host four other SEC opponents in Turner Stadium including Florida (March 30-April 1), South Carolina (April 11), Alabama (April 20-22) and Arkansas (May 5-6). The series with the Razorbacks will mark the Bulldogs final weekend of regular season play.

Throughout the SEC slate, Georgia will also play six additional midweek contests including an away game at Georgia Tech on March 14 and five home contests against Georgia State (March 21), Georgia Southern (March 28), USC Upstate (April 10), Georgia Tech (April 18) and Kennesaw State (April 25). The 2012 season will mark the first time since 1997 in which Georgia will face all five NCAA Division I in-state opponents in the same year.

The SEC Tournament will be hosted by Alabama in Tuscaloosa May 10-12. NCAA Regionals will take place on campus sites May 18-20, and NCAA Super Regionals will also be played on campus sites May 25-26. The 2012 Women’s College World Series will be held at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City May 31-June 6.