FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast softball will begin its 2026 regular season and the Lindsay Fico era at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, February 5, against D1 Softball Preseason Mid-Major No. 24 Charlotte in the opening game of the FGCU Kickoff Classic.

The Eagles will also play host to D1 Softball Preseason Mid-Major No. 20 Southern Illinois at 3:00 p.m. Friday, February 6, Long Island at 5:30 p.m. Friday and Ball State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, February 7.

Fico's Eagles return seven letterwinners, including Preseason All-ASUN selections Olivia Black and Maddox Thomas. Victoria Ash is the lone returner in the circle, and Tiffany Meek, Nikki Gibson, Sophie Wylie and Emily Chiarella all logged 50+ starts in 2025.

Those six returning bats combined for 61.3% of FGCU's hits in 2025. Black led the Eagles with 38 stolen bases, Thomas had a team-best .399 OBP, Chiarella hit .346 with 24 stolen bases, Meek stole 16 bases and hit four triples, Wylie led FGCU with four homers and Gibson drew a team-high 21 walks.

Ash accounted for 40.3% of the team's innings in the circle behind Allison Sparkman. Her 3.35 ERA and ten complete games were also second to Sparkman.

Fico brought four players and assistant coach Devyn Flaherty from her 2025 Southern Conference championship team at Mercer. Pitcher Grace Taylor was named the 2025 SoCon Championship Most Outstanding Player, Parris Wiggs led the Bears with a .351 average, Kiki Daniels hit eight home runs and tallied 37 RBI, and Sietske Drijvers anchored Mercer behind the plate.

The SoCon connection led to assistant coach Jorde Chartrand joining the staff after her graduation from UNC Greensboro, and Fico rounded out the staff in January, naming Jody Hennigar the pitching coach.

Fico's freshman class includes outfielder J'Lyn Guyden, catcher Heather Robertson, pitcher/infielder Julia Bacoulis, outfielder/pitcher Loreal Byrd, catcher/infielder Mackenzie Leiti and pitcher/outfielder Tegan Gabrielse.

Charlotte enters the season coming off a 30-27 mark in 2025. The Niners return 13 players, including seven starters and all four pitchers for a team that hit 60 home runs and scored 315 runs, both top three marks in Charlotte program history.

Thursday will be the first-ever matchup between the Eagles and 49ers.

SIU was picked to finish third in the MVC in the preseason coaches' poll. Outfielder Mikaela Coburn (.357 average in 2025) and 2025 MVC Newcomer of the Year Emily Williams (17 home runs) were named to the preseason All-MVC Team.

The Eagles lead the all-time series 3-2; all five games have been in Fort Myers. The two teams last met in 2023, in that contest, Gibson walked twice and scored a pair of runs for FGCU in a 6-3 SIU win.

Long Island was selected to finish first in the NEC in the preseason coaches' poll. The Sharks are under the leadership of first-year head coach Rich Calvert, and return a pair of All-NEC first team players in catcher/utility Kaylee Clarkson and outfielder Lily Hinkle. 

FGCU leads the all-time series with LIU 17-5, and is 14-2 in Fort Myers against the Sharks. The last time the two teams met, Meek and Chiarella each went 2-for-3, Meek scored three runs and Thomas had two RBI in a 9-0 FGCU five inning run-rule victory.

Ball State softball was picked to finish third among the 12 teams in the MAC's annual preseason coaches' poll. The Cardinals are coming off one of the best scoring seasons in program history, ranking first in the MAC and 22nd nationally with a 6.59 runs-per-game average in 2025 

The Eagles lead the all-time series with Ball State 5-2. All seven games have been played in Fort Myers, and the series will renew for the first time since 2019.

2026 softball season tickets, mini plans and single game tickets are on sale now at https://fgcuathletics.evenue.net/list/SB. 

For more information on FGCU Softball, follow @FGCUSoftball on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook, and visit fgcuathletics.com.