SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame softball team and head coach Kris Ganeff have announced the schedule for the 2026 season, which includes games in six different states including multiple trips to Florida and California in the first couple months. The full schedule can be viewed here.
“We are very excited about our 2026 season starting up here in February!” Ganeff said. “We feel like we have put together a competitive schedule to take us across the country to be able to play various conferences that will help us as a team prepare for the tough conference slate that we have in front of us.”
“In our conference, every weekend you play opponents who have heavy postseason aspirations. We are looking forward to hosting strong opponents and going on the road to compete in unique and competitive venues! This team has worked very hard and had a great fall to prepare us for the spring season that is ahead. We have a great complimentary group that is ready to compete at the highest level.”
Notre Dame will face 13 teams who competed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament a season ago in Auburn, Liberty, UCF, Georgia Tech, Grand Canyon, San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford, Clemson, Cal, Florida State, Indiana and Northwestern.
The Irish begin the season at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida from February 6-8 for the third-straight year. The Irish will take on multiple power four teams, including Auburn, BYU and Rutgers. North Carolina Central, Longwood and Liberty round out the opening six-game stretch for Notre Dame.
The following weekend, the Irish head to the Purple-Gold Classic, hosted by East Carolina. Notre Dame will take on Maryland on Friday, February 13th before taking on East Carolina and Buffalo twice in the next two following days. The Irish will then trek down to Orlando for the SpaceU Classic and take on Charleston Southern, Ohio, Penn State and tournament host UCF from February 20-22.
The first Atlantic Coast Conference test will be at Georgia Tech from February 28-March 1st. Notre Dame will follow that up with a trip to San Diego to compete in the USD/SDSU Tournament and face a plethora of California schools from March 6-8 before a road test at UC Santa Barbara on March 11th. The California spring break trip concludes for the Irish at Stanford from March 13-15.
The home opener for Notre Dame is a double-header against Oakland on March 18th with game one beginning at 5:00 p.m. at Melissa Cook Stadium. It’s the first two games of a nine-game home stand, consisting of games against Clemson, Cal and Western Michigan before heading back on the road to take on Florida State in Tallahassee from April 2-4.
The Irish return back to campus for a stint against Valparaiso on April 8th before hosting Louisville from April 10-12 for the annual Strikeout Cancer Weekend. Notre Dame will then face a pair of Big Ten schools the following week, at Indiana on April 14th before hosting Northwestern on the 15th.
The final road ACC series is against Syracuse from April 17-19th before the Irish close out the regular season with seven-straight home games. First, Notre Dame hosts Central Michigan on April 21st followed by a clash with Michigan State on the 22nd. Boston College will arrive in South Bend to close out conference play from April 24-26 before a pair of home midweek games against UIC on April 28th and DePaul on April 29th will be the final tune up before the ACC Softball Championship, hosted this year by Virginia, from May 6-9.
The Irish will look to return to the NCAA Regionals this season from May 15-18, followed by Super Regionals from May 22-24 before the Women’s College World Series kicks off in Oklahoma City from May 27-June 5.