BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- With the new year brings a new season for head coach Amy Tudor and WKU Softball as the program announced its 2026 schedule on Thursday.
The 51-game slate features a total of 27 games at the WKU Softball complex and five games against teams that competed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
The Hilltoppers will open their 2026 season on the road at the Bash in the Boro hosted by UNC Greensboro, Feb. 6-8. In that three-day span, they'll take on UNCG, Eastern Illinois, and Georgia Southern. The Tops took on EIU in 2024 and finished the season with a 2-0 record against the Panthers, including a 10-0, five-inning shutout. Later that season, EIU won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Only five days later, the Tops will head to Macon, Ga., to play in the Mercer University Softball Invitational, Feb. 13-15. At the MUSB, WKU will take on Army, Mercer, and Iowa in a total of five games. Mercer won the SoCon tournament championship in 2025 and earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears played in the Gainesville regional and made it all the way to the regional finals before falling to Florida.
WKU opens its home schedule with the Hilltopper Classic, Feb. 20-22 and will host five games against Butler, Western Michigan, and Detroit Mercy. On Feb. 27-March 1, the Hilltoppers will host the Hilltopper Spring Fling and will play another five games against Illinois, IU Indy, and Ball State.
The Tops will open Conference USA play at home this season, hosting a new face to the conference, Missouri State, March 6-8. That following Tuesday, March 10, WKU will host Eastern Kentucky in a midweek matchup.
On March 13-15, the Hilltoppers will head to Jacksonville, Ala., to play against the Gamecocks in a three-game series before returning home to host Louisville on Wednesday, March 18.
The weekend after hosting Louisville, WKU will host rival Middle Tennessee, March 20-22 before traveling to Las Cruces, N.M., to play New Mexico State, March 27-29.
The next week, WKU will host a four-game stretch at the WKU Softball Complex. The Tops will welcome the Sam Houston Bearkats, April 2-4, and will then host Lipscomb on April 7.
After hosting four straight games, the Hilltoppers will spend four games on the road. The team will head to Lynchburg, Va., April 10-12 to take on the Liberty Flames. The Flames are coming off a season that saw them reach the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time in program history before falling to Oregon. After returning to Kentucky, WKU will head to Evansville, Ind., to play the University of Evansville on April 15.
WKU will get to be home for two straight weekends, hosting a series against UTEP, April 17-19, and Kennesaw State, April 24-26.
The Tops will close out their 2026 regular season schedule with a three-game series against the University of Delaware in Newark, Del., from April 30-May 2. Delaware is another new member of CUSA in the 2025-2026 athletic year.
The 2026 CUSA Championship Tournament will be hosted by the University of Delaware, May 5-9.
