ORLANDO – In accompaniment with the announcement made by the organization Wednesday, Nov. 5, the UCF softball team has revealed its five-game slate for the 2026 Shriner’s Children’s Clearwater Invitational.
Returning to Clearwater for the fifth consecutive season, the Knights will meet marquee opposition throughout the weekend, squaring off against Northwestern, Georgia, LSU, Nebraska and NC State.
Four of the Knights’ five scheduled opponents earned bids to the 2025 NCAA Tournament, with Nebraska and Georgia advancing as far as the NCAA Super Regional round. Overall, the five squads produced an aggregate 175-103-1 record in 2025, good for a combined .629 win percentage, led by 40-win campaigns authored by LSU and Nebraska.
Feb. 13, 2026 – vs. Northwestern – 10 a.m.
UCF will open its stay in Clearwater with the program’s first matchup against the Northwestern Wildcats. The two teams were scheduled to clash during the 2024 Clearwater Invitational, but the contest was canceled due to inclement weather.
The Wildcats in 2025 produced a 30-20-1 overall record, including a 16-6 mark in Big Ten Conference play, en route to earning a berth in the NCAA Clemson Regional. Their season was highlighted by ranked wins over then-No. 8 Duke (4-1, Feb. 8), then-No. 19 Mississippi State (4-2, March 22), and a series win over then-No. 8 UCLA May 2-4.
The team then opened regional play with a 4-0 shutout win over Kentucky May 16 before falling in back-to-back games to host No. 11 Clemson and Kentucky the next day.
Feb. 13, 2026 – vs. Georgia – 1 p.m.
After meeting the Bulldogs on the Knights’ home turf in Orlando in three of the last four seasons, UCF and Georgia will renew their recent rivalry in Clearwater this spring. The Bulldogs hold a 4-1 lead in the all-time series over the Knights, with the Black and Gold having earned their first win in program history over Georgia, 7-6, in 2022.
The Bulldogs in 2025 made their 23rd consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and produced a 35-23 overall record, including a 7-16 showing in SEC play. The squad’s ranked wins in 2025 included triumphs over then-No. 7 Tennessee (4-3, March 8), then-No. 9 South Carolina (7-3, March 14), then-No. 3 LSU (11-3, March 23), then-No. 15 Oklahoma State (8-4, March 26), then-No. 25 Alabama (4-3, March 28), and then-No. 17 Ole Miss (6-4, April 18).
Georgia then earned an 8-0 run-rule win over 13th-seeded Kentucky to kick off the SEC Tournament in Athens, won three of its four NCAA Regional matchups against Coastal Carolina and 14th-seeded Duke in Durham, and forced a decisive NCAA Super Regional Game Three against third-seeded Florida in Gainesville before ultimately falling one game short of its sixth Women’s College World Series appearance.
Feb. 14, 2026 – vs. LSU – 10 a.m.
UCF will kick off day two in Clearwater against another unfamiliar foe in the LSU Tigers. The two programs have met just once before, a contest LSU won by a narrow 6-5 final score during the 2016 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, California.
The Tigers recorded their third consecutive 40+ win season in 2025, producing a strong 42-16 mark with a 12-12 showing in SEC play. Led by a pair of NFCA All-America selections in Maci Bergeron and Tori Edwards, the Tigers earned 17 ranked wins throughout the spring, including a series sweep of then-No. 23 Kentucky March 14-16 and a 6-1 win over the eventual 2025 National Champion Texas Longhorns April 18.
For its efforts, the program was rewarded the No. 10 national seed and hosting honors in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, representing the ninth time in the past 10 seasons the Tigers hosted an NCAA Regional.
Feb. 14, 2026 – vs. Nebraska – 1:30 p.m.
The Knights’ second day two opponent is another 2025 NCAA Super Regional squad in the Nebraska Cornhuskers. UCF will look to build upon a 2-0 all-time record against a Cornhuskers program it hasn’t met since its 2022 road trip through California.
Nebraska, led by the summer 2023 addition of former two-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Jordy Bahl, has produced an aggregate 73-38 record (.658) spanning the past two seasons, including its first 40+ win season since 2022 with a 43-15 mark in 2025.
Bahl, after missing the majority of the 2024 campaign due to injury, returned in dominant form throughout her first full season in Lincoln in ‘25, earning NFCA Division I Player of the Year, First Team NFCA All-America, Big Ten Player of the Year, and Big Ten Pitcher of the Year honors as Nebraska swept its way through the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional and advanced as far as the NCAA Knoxville Super Regional.
Feb. 15, 2026 – vs. NC State – 12 p.m.
UCF will conclude its stay in Clearwater with a Sunday afternoon tilt against the NC State Wolfpack, marking the second consecutive season that sees the two programs meet.
The Knights hosted NC State during its season-opening Black and Gold Classic in 2025, edging the Wolfpack by a 3-1 final score behind a dominant day in the circle authored by Yessenia Lopez and since-graduated Kaitlyn Felton. The effort evened the all-time series between the two squads at one win apiece.
NC State went 25-29 overall in 2025, accompanied by a 6-18 record in ACC play, highlighted by an 11-9 win over then-No. 18 Duke in Raleigh April 26.
ABOUT UCF ATHLETICS
UCF is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference. Our mission is to positively transform the lives of our students academically, athletically, and personally through a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletics program that enhances the reputation and visibility of the University. We strive to be Florida's preeminent athletic program representing UCF and our community with distinction on the national stage as "Orlando's Hometown Team". To learn more about UCF and Athletics, please visit our websites at www.ucf.edu and www.ucfknights.com.