PORTALES, N.M. - Eastern New Mexico softball begins the 2026 season as part of the Lone Star D2 College Classic beginning on Friday morning. The Greyhounds will play five games over three days in Mansfield, Texas.
The tournament will be held in Mansfield, Texas, and the games will be held at Fields at Station 63. The opening games for the Greyhounds will be held at field six on Friday against Minnesota Duluth (10 a.m. CT) and against #9 Augustana immediately following the game against the Bulldogs.
The Hounds will play on Saturday against Oklahoma Baptist (4:15 p.m. CT) before closing out the tournament with games against Emporia State (9 a.m. CT) and Maryville (1:30 p.m. CT) on Sunday.
ENMU will be facing Minnesota Duluth, Maryville University, and Augustana University, who is ranked ninth nationally, for the first time in program history. The only matchup between the Greyhounds and the Bisons was in February 2019, where the Hounds won 4-1. Eastern will be facing Emporia State for the first time since 2004 with Emporia holding a winning streak of three games against Eastern.
UMD was picked to finish fourth in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) competition by the annual preseason coaches' poll. They finished the 2025 season with an overall record of 39-17 and an 18-8 record in NSIC action. Player Kendal Jenkins was named player-to-watch, and Allyssa Williams was named pitcher-to-watch.
Augustana comes into the weekend ranked ninth in the nation and was picked to finish first in the preseason polls of the GAC. The Vikings finished the 2025 season with an overall record of 50-11, a conference record of 25-3, and they were conference champions. Along with their Player of the Year, Desi Cuevas, coach Gretta Melsted was named Coach of the Year. Helen Krage was named Augustana's pitcher-to-watch.
OBU was selected to finish second in their conference and ended their 2025 season with an overall record of 36-17. The Bisons were championship runners up in their conference last season.
Emporia State is slated to finish eighth in their conference. In the 2025 season, the Hornets had an overall record of 31-23 and a conference record of 10-14.
Maryville finished the 2025 season with an overall record of 28-26 and a conference record of 19-9.
Our very own Greyhounds were selected to finish seventh in the preseason polls along with player-to-watch Christina Meneses and pitcher-to-watch Miranda Guillen. The Hounds ended the 2025 season with a 30-25 overall record and a 23-21 conference record.
