Softball On SI

College Softball Weekly Trending Report

Who’s wot, who’s heating up, and who needs a reset – Feb. 9, 2026
Maren Angus-Coombs|
UCLA's Kaniya Bragg hit three home runs for the Bruins during opening weekend.
UCLA's Kaniya Bragg hit three home runs for the Bruins during opening weekend. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NCAA Division I softball's opening weekend was one for the history books. From perfect games to offensive outbursts to remarkable upsets, it had a little bit of everything softball fans were looking forward to.

Every Monday throughout the season, Softball On SI will publish a weekly trender report. Here is who is hot, heating up, cooling and ice cold to start the 2026 season.

Hot

UCLA Bruins (5-0)

The UCLA Bruins are off to a perfect start and were quite home run happy in Westwood. UCLA outscored their opponents 68-6 and hit 23 home runs with Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant with five each.

  • UCLA 18, UC Santa Barbara 1 (5 innings)
  • UCLA 10, Northern Colorado 1 (5 innings)
  • UCLA 12, Oregon State 4 (5 innings)
  • UCLA 11, Utah 0 (5 innings)
  • UCLA 17, UC Riverside 0 (5 innings)

Alabama Crimson Tide (5-0)

Despite being without their ace Jocelyn Briski for most of the weekend, the Alabama Crimson Tide rolled to an undefeated start and outscored its opponents 51-6.

Brooke Wells, a transfer from Houston, led the team with a .583 average (7-for-12), six walks, and a .22 on-base percentage. Alexis Pupillo drove in 11 runs and the team combined to hit 18 homers.

In the circle, freshman Vic Moten started three games and went 3-0, allowing seven hits and striking out 19 over 15.0 innings.

Maya Johnson, Belmont Bruins (3-2)

The senior left-handed pitcher couldn't have pitched better to open her final season with the Belmont Bruins. She pitched a perfect game against Missouri State to open the 2026 slate and then led the Bruins to a 2-1 win over No. 15 Georgia. She struck out 12 Bulldogs in the upset.

Mia Williams, Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-0)

Mia Williams is off to a red-hot start in her first season with Texas Tech. She led the Red Raiders with 11 hits, 12 runs scored, 13 RBIs, six doubles, three home runs, and four free passes. She has a team-high .688 batting average, 1.625 slugging percentage, and .714 on-base percentage.

Texas Tech outscored its competition 64-9 and took down No. 14 Texas A&M, 3-2, in College Station.

Sydney Potter, Southern Illinois Salukis (5-0)

Sydney Potter transferred from Creighton and has immediately impacted the SIU offense. The junior hit five home runs, one in each game.

Heating Up

Michigan State Spartans (4-1)

The Michigan State Spartans are off to their best start since 1997 and put an exclamation point on the NFCA Leadoff Classic on Sunday with a 5-2 victory over No. 9 Clemson. The other three wins were against BYU, Longwood, and Pitt.

FIU Panthers (6-0)

Head coach Mike Larabee has returned to work full-time, and the FIU Panthers are off to a 6-0 start. J'dah Girigorie appeared in four games, earning two wins and two saves. She held opponents to one earned run on eight hits and struck out 16 in 16.0 innings.

Southeastern Louisiana Lions (4-2)

Southeastern Louisiana captured the softball world's attention during Super Regionals last year when they eliminated the LSU Tigers in the Baton Rouge Regional. They haven't let off the gas and took down No. 5 Oregon, 4-2, to cap off their stay at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.

The win over the Tigers marked he highest-ranked opponent SLU has defeated in program history.

Jalen Adams, Arizona Wildcats (3-2)

Jalen Adams introduced herself to the Arizona faithful with a no-hitter in her debut, and then she picked up a win over No. 3 Oklahoma on Friday.

The Iowa transfer appeared in four games over the weekend and went 2-1 with a 2.72 ERA.

Cooling Off

Oregon Ducks (2-3)

Fresh off of a trip to the women's College World Series appearance, the Oregon Ducks dropped three of five at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.

The Ducks beat Missouri and Liberty but dropped close contests to No. 9 Clemson, No. 4 Tennessee, and Southeastern Louisiana.

Liberty Flames (0-5)

The Liberty Flames appeared in the Eugene Super Regional last year and graduated a handful talent. That showed in Clearwater as they struggled to get anything going in the right direction, The Flames lost No. 4 Tennessee, No. 9 Clemson, No. 5 Oregon, Missouri and Notre Dame.

Ole Miss Rebels (3-2)

After making the WCWS for the first time in program history last year, the Ole Miss Rebels split with Cal State Fullerton and dropped another contest to Boise State. They won both contests against Cal State Northridge.

It's hard to judge the Rebels after campus was hit with an insane ice storm and the Rebels weren't able to practice for almost two weeks.

Binghamton Bearcats (1-4)

The defending America East champs tests themselves with five contests against Power 4 opponents to open the season and managed to win the season opener over Syracuse, 5-1.

However, they lost to the Orange, 4-3, and dropped two games to No. 24 Virginia Tech. The Bearcats closed out their trip to South Carolina with a 9-1 loss to the No. 16 Gamecocks.

Cold

CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (0-6)

Cal State Bakersfield had a rough first six games of the season at the UCF Black & Gold Classic. The Roadrunners were outscored 48-11.

Illinois Fighting Illini (0-5)

Illinois lost two games to Lamar, one to Nevada, one NC State and one to No. 12 LSU.

UConn Huskies (0-4)

UConn had to pivot last minute after their original schedule was canceled due to inclement. Instead of playing at Elon, the Huskies went to Florida State and lost all four games.

Stonehill Skyhawks (0-5)

Stonehill, which is in its fourth year as a DI program, was outscored 46-3 in five games at the FAU Paradise Classic. The Skyhawks were shutout in four contests and only scored against Delaware.

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Maren Angus-Coombs
MAREN ANGUS-COOMBS

Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. She has been covering college softball since 2016 for various outlets including Softball America, ESPNW and Hurrdat Sports. She is currently the managing editor of Softball On SI and also serves as an analyst for Nebraska softball games on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+.

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