It may be 12 degrees in New York City right now and some parts of the Northeast and Midwest may have received a foot of snow in the last 24 hours, but don’t let that discourage you…

… the college softball season is here!

That’s right, D2 and D3 competition kicked off yesterday and the D1 season begins this week.

This Thursday—February 5—the 2026 NFCA Leadoff Classic kicks off the D1 season with teams including Auburn, Boston College, BYU, Clemson, Liberty, Missouri, Notre Dame Oregon Penn State, Pitt and Tennessee competing in Clearwater, Fla.

Also, that day Oklahoma will face Arizona State and also Toledo in the Sun Devil-hosted Kajikawa Classic in Tempe.

Also, that day Texas Tech will face McNeese State and Ole Miss will place Cal State Fullerton.

On Friday, the defending national champion Texas Longhorns will start its season against Nebraska at the UTSA Invitational in San Antonio, Texas which also include Washington and UT San Antonio.

As we follow the season, which wraps up with the NCAA Women’s College World Series that starts May 28 with the best-of-three game series finals taking place June 4 to June 6, we’ll post the college rankings during the season.

One we implicitly trust is that produced by D1Softball and my friend Justin McLeod who I’ve worked with previously and saw how he knows his stuff!

With his permission, here’s the D1Softball preseason rankings and for the rest of the season we’ll track how the season goes through D1Softball’s coverage…  

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2026 D1Softball Preseason Top 25

The Texas Longhorns earn the top spot in D1Softball’s Preseason Top 25 poll ahead of the 2026 season.

Texas Tech and Oklahoma – last season’s national runner-up and national semifinalist, respectively – check in at No. 2 and No. 3 in the preseason poll.

All eight teams that played in the Women’s College World Series a year ago appear in the preseason poll; in addition to the top three teams, that group includes No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Oregon, No. 10 UCLA, and No. 24 Ole Miss.

The SEC leads all conferences with 12 ranked teams, while the ACC checks in with six. The Big Ten placed four teams in the preseason poll, while the Big 12 was represented by a trio of schools.

Receiving Votes: Florida Atlantic, Grand Canyon, UCF, Liberty, Ohio State, Arizona State, Auburn, Michigan, North Carolina, BYU, San Diego State