PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's softball team unveiled its 2026 schedule on Monday. The slate includes 48 scheduled games with 24 against Atlantic 10 opponents, 14 home games, 13 games against teams that competed in last season's NCAA tournament and four contests against city rivals.
 
"We're excited about the 2026 schedule," said head coach Gina McCool. "Our preseason was built to challenge us at a championship level, with half of our early matchups coming against teams that competed at an NCAA Regional in 2025. That level of talent and experience will have us ready to enter the Atlantic 10 slate prepared to compete from day one."
 
The Hawks open the season at the Elon Softball Classic, Feb. 5-7, and waste no time in facing challenging competition with North Carolina and UConn in the field. Also among the opponents SJU faces in the classic are Radford and James Madison.
 
St. Joe's returns to the Philadelphia region with a doubleheader at Delaware on Feb. 15 before heading south again, this time to Tampa, Fla., Feb. 19-21, facing USF, Colgate, Boston College, Indiana and Marist on the campus of the University of South Florida.
 
The final non-conference southern trip is to Conway, S.C., for the Beach Chicken Brawl, hosted by Coastal Carolina, Feb. 27-Mar. 1. In the event, Saint Joseph's takes on FAU once and has two games apiece against Binghamton and the host Chanticleers.
 
Opening the home schedule is local rival Drexel on Mar. 4. A-10 play begins with SJU hosting Rhode Island, March 7-8. The next weekend, the team goes to the Midwest, battling defending Atlantic 10 champion Saint Louis, Mar. 14-15. Returning to the East Coast, the Hawks make the trip up the Main Line to play Villanova on Mar. 18 before a home conference matchup against George Mason on Mar. 21-22.
 
March ends and April begins with midweek non-conference road contests with St. Joe's traveling to Seton Hall on Mar. 25 and Monmouth on Apr. 1. Two days later, Loyola Chicago visits the SJU Softball Field on Apr. 3-4 for a three-game set. Following road contests at Drexel (Apr. 8) and George Washington (Apr. 11-12), Saint Joseph's wraps its home schedule with Penn on Apr. 15 and St. Bonaventure Apr. 18-19.
 
SJU is on the road for its final seven regular season games, traveling to Lehigh on Apr. 22 with conference series at Fordham (Apr. 25-26) and Dayton (May 2-3) wrapping the slate.
 
The Atlantic 10 Championship commences on May 6 at the Billiken Sports Complex in Saint Louis, Mo. NCAA Regionals are May 13-16 and Super Regionals are May 20-23. The Women's College World Series takes place May 28-Jun. 5 at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Okla.
 
Saint Joseph's wrapped last year with its first 30-win season since 2013 and advanced to the A-10 semifinals for the first time since 2019.