Virginia Announces 2026 Softball Schedule

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia head softball coach Joanna Hardin announced the 2026 schedule on Wednesday (Nov. 19) with a slate that features 27 home games and includes two home tournaments and four ACC series.

The Cavaliers will also host the 2026 ACC Softball Championships at Palmer Park this spring (May 6-9).

Admission to all regular season home games is free for the 2026 season.

Virginia opens the season on the road with back-to-back tournaments. The season starts at the Kickin’ Chicken Classic hosted by Coastal Carolina (Feb. 6-8) where the Cavaliers will face Arkansas and Coastal Carolina twice, and also play a single game against Akron. Virginia will then play at a tournament at Longwood (Feb. 13-15) with a game against the Lancers, two games against Toledo and two games against Quinnipiac.

The Hoos return home to host the Mizuno Classic (Feb. 19-22) with two games each against Maryland, Ohio State and Delaware. Virginia plays a single midweek contest at Longwood (Feb. 24) before hosting the Party at Palmer Invitational (Feb. 27 – March 1) with games against Michigan, Bucknell and Villanova.

Virginia will also host non-conference games against Hampton (March 10), Liberty (March 25), Louisiana (April 8) and JMU (April 21), while playing on the road at JMU (March 17) and at Liberty (April 28).

In ACC action, the Cavaliers host Georgia Tech (March 13-15), Pittsburgh (March 27-29), Virginia Tech (April 10-12) and NC State (April 24-26). The Hoos travel for ACC series at North Carolina (March 6-8), Syracuse (March 20-22), Duke (April 2-4) and Clemson (April 17-19).

NCAA Regional play begins May 14-17 the week after the ACC Championships.

NOTING THE HOOS AND THE SCHEDULE

• Virginia returns four players who garnered postseason honors a year ago, including All-American Jade Hylton, and All-Region honorees Eden Bigham, Bella Cabral and Macee Eaton
• The Hoos are coming off a 39-18 record a year ago and a second-straight NCAA Regional appearance
• Virginia plays 25 games against teams that advanced to the 2025 NCAA Tournament with two of those games at neutral sites, 12 of them on the road and 11 of them at home