LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Penn State softball and head coach Clarisa Crowell announced the Nittany Lions participation in the 2026 NFCA Leadoff Classic Thursday afternoon following a release from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
The Blue & White kick off the program’s 62nd varsity season on Friday, February 6, as the Nittany Lions square off against the Missouri Tigers in a 10 a.m. (ET) first pitch from the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Florida. Penn State’s challenging weekend of matchups continues with a 1 p.m. (ET) first pitch later that afternoon against the Boston College Eagles. PSU will play a pair of games on Saturday, February 7, battling the BYU Cougars at 1 p.m. (ET) before a 7 p.m. (ET) clash against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Penn State’s opening weekend on Florida’s gulf coast closes out with a 10 a.m. (ET) test against the Auburn Tigers on Sunday, February 8.
Led by eight-year head coach Larissa Anderson, the Missouri Tigers travel to South Florida fresh off a challenging 2025 slate that culminated in a 25-31 overall record coupled with a 6-18 finish in Southeastern Conference play. Mizzou will be without the services of NFCA First Team All-Region selection and All-SEC student-athlete Julia Crenshaw, who led the Tigers in multiple key statistics over the past few seasons prior to her graduation last spring. The Tigers are less than two years removed from hosting a Super Regional in the 2024 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament, a season in which the organization turned in a 48-18 finish and 13-11 mark in conference play, overcoming an early loss in the Columbia Regional to surge back into the sport’s proverbial Sweet 16.
Under the direction of familiar foe and first-year head coach Beth Krysiak, the Boston College Eagles prepare for their opening-day matchup against Penn State following a 22-29 season in 2025 that included a 5-19 mark against Atlantic Coast Conference competitors. Krysiak, the sixth head coach in the program’s history, arrives following a pair of NEC Championship-winning seasons at in-state rival Saint Francis, having reached the NCAA Regionals in each of the last two years while toting a 67-40 overall record and 38-7 mark in conference matchups. BC will boast a largely new roster ahead of the 2026 campaign, featuring 10 true freshman student-athletes paired with 14 returning players.
The BYU Cougars, under the direction of 24-year head coaching veteran Gordon Eakin, prepares for their 2026 season fresh off a narrow exclusion from the NCAA Tournament field a season ago. The Cougars posted a 32-17 record in their first season in the Big 12 Conference and logged a 13-11 finish against league foes in their inaugural campaign in the league. BYU will look to bounce back this season with a revamped squad highlighted by the return of Ilove’a Brittingham, who paced the roster in terms of OPS (1.260), batting average (.410), home runs (21) and RBI (69). BYU also welcomes back all three of its primary inning-earners from 2025, namely Kaysen Korth, Kate Dahle and Jada Villegas, who each turned in sub-3.50 ERA’s while tossing over 65.0 innings apiece.
Entering her 34th consecutive season at the helm in Richmond, Kentucky, head coach Jane Worthington leads the EKU Colonels into the 2026 campaign following a dominant 38-16 finish in 2025 that included a 17-5 finish in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Eastern Kentucky made a valiant run in the ASUN Tournament, appearing in the championship game against eventual league victor North Florida, but consequently dropped a narrow 5-4 result that kept the perennial mid-major powerhouse out of the NCAA Tournament field. EKU returns to action this season with two of their top three hitters from a season ago in Kennedy Drafton and Jada McLeod leading the way.
Rounding out PSU’s quintet of opponents are the Auburn Tigers under the guidance of co-head coaches Chris and Kate Malveaux, who turned in a 35-24 season in 2025 coupled with a 6-18 ledger against Southeastern Conference foes. The Tigers battled their way into the NCAA Tournament Tallahassee Regional final against eventual regional champion and host Florida State, showcasing a gritty performance that the program will look to leverage as the calendar turns to 2026. Auburn returns utility AnnaLea Adams following a dominant freshman campaign in the Orange & Blue, as well as the team’s No. 2 starter in SJ Geurin. Auburn’s ace in the circle from 2025, Haley Rainey, remains a member of the program as one of two graduate student managers on the Tiger roster.
The Blue & White are fresh off a historic offensive season in 2025, with the Nittany Lions shattering multiple program records over the course of the team’s 61st campaign. The Nittany Lions completed the most powerful offensive season at the plate in program annals, launching a single-season program record 74 home runs while also shattering school records in runs scored with 341, runs batted in with 306, and total bases with 770. In addition to the team’s historic effort in multiple counting statistics, the squad also managed to muster the best single season batting average in program history with a .329 mark in the statistic, surpassing the previous record of .314 from the 2016 campaign by a significant differential. Penn State also extended its streak of consecutive double-digit winning seasons against Big Ten opponents to four-straight years, the longest such streak in school history. The Nittany Lions return multiple key contributors from the past few seasons, with PSU welcoming back junior utility Brooke Klosowicz and sophomore outfielder Natalie Lieto fresh off award-winning seasons according to the Big Ten Conference, as well as 2024 B1G Freshman of the Year in junior pitcher Bridget Nemeth.
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