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Softball Brandon Sans

Softball Opens 2026 Season This Weekend

WILMINGTON, North Carolina – Coastal Athletic Association Preseason Player of the Year Madison Biddle and the UNCW softball team open the 2026 campaign this weekend when it hosts Appalachian State, George Washington and Kennesaw State for a weekend tournament at Boseman Field.

The Seahawks will play a pair of Friday games against the Mountaineers (4 p.m.) and Revolutionaries (6:30 p.m.) UNCW returns to action against GW and the Owls on Saturday, followed by the weekend conclusion against App State on Sunday. All UNCW games are scheduled to be streamed on FloCollege.

A total of 10 games will be played over the course of three days in the Port City. Admission is free throughout the weekend.

Biddle headlines 17 returners after earning CAA First Team honors one year ago. The junior shortstop hit .397 in 2025 with eight home runs and 33 RBI, all team highs, to go with 22 stolen bases.

Junior outfielder Cassidy Relay, a CAA All-Preseason Team honoree, joins Biddle and catcher/infielder Allison Corbin as the Seahawks' top returning hitters this year. Relay swiped 34 bags and hit .343 across 50 games, while Corbin drove in 29 runs with three homers while hitting .288 in 45 starts.

In the circle, junior Makayla Huddleston is back for her second season in the Port City after going 13-9 with a 2.09 ERA across 130.2 innings in 2025. Huddleston, a CAA Preseason Honorable Mention, tossed a no-hitter last year and struck out 103 batters.

Head Coach Ashley Wade enters her fourth year at the helm of the Seahawks program, after helping the Seahawks to the 2024 CAA Championship with a program record 18 conference wins. UNCW went 28-22 one year ago, highlighted by a program-tying 10 straight wins and a 5-4 win at NC State.

The 2026 Seahawks will traverse through a 51-game schedule that features 28 home games, 19 away contests and five neutral-site games.

2026 CAA DIVISION SCHEDULING FORMAT
CAA athletic directors have approved a new divisional scheduling format and a change to the way teams are determined for the conference championship in four different sports, including softball, for the 2025-26 season.
 
Softball
The conference will be separated into two divisions – North: (Drexel, Hofstra, Monmouth, Stony Brook and Towson) and South: (Campbell, Charleston, Elon, Hampton, North Carolina A&T and UNCW).

During the regular season, teams will play eight conference series (24 games). In the North, teams will play two divisional opponents once and the other two divisional opponents twice (home and away). There will also be two series (one home, one away) against teams from the South Division. In the South, two teams will play three divisional opponents once and the other two divisional opponents twice (home and away) as well as one series against a team from the North Division. Three teams will play four divisional opponents once and the other divisional opponent twice (home and away) as well as two series (one home, one away) against teams from the North Division.

The top two teams from each division based on conference winning percentage in all games will qualify for the six-team CAA Championship. The other two tournament participants will be the teams that have the highest conference winning percentage in all conference games played, but did not finish first or second in their division.
 
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Players Mentioned

Madison Biddle

#14 Madison Biddle

IF
5' 4"
Junior
R/R
Allison Corbin

#46 Allison Corbin

C/IF
5' 9"
Junior
R/R
Makayla Huddleston

#52 Makayla Huddleston

P
5' 4"
Junior
R/R
Cassidy Relay

#33 Cassidy Relay

OF
5' 2"
Junior
L/L

Players Mentioned

Madison Biddle

#14 Madison Biddle

5' 4"
Junior
R/R
IF
Allison Corbin

#46 Allison Corbin

5' 9"
Junior
R/R
C/IF
Makayla Huddleston

#52 Makayla Huddleston

5' 4"
Junior
R/R
P
Cassidy Relay

#33 Cassidy Relay

5' 2"
Junior
L/L
OF