FLORENCE, Ala. (April 30, 2026) – The University of North Alabama softball team will wind down the 2026 regular season with a three-game series at home against Bellarmine this weekend, beginning Friday with a doubleheader and Saturday with the regular season finale.
Both days will begin at 1 p.m. inside Hilda B. Anderson Softball Stadium.
All three games will air on ESPN+ and will have live stats available via StatBroadcast. "Voice of the Lions"
Benjamin Ray and Ande Jones will have the call for all three games.
Friday's game will include multiple promotions, including "Furry Friend Friday" presented by Barktown and a special first pitch to be thrown by UNA First Lady, Dena Kitts. Following the doubleheader, UNA President Dr. Ken Kitts will take the field to officiate a special graduation ceremony for the softball program.
Prior to Saturday's game, UNA will have a special senior day ceremony to honor nine players on the field with their families and friends. The nine seniors include
Katie Davis,
Katie Simon,
Emily Simon,
Natalie Shaw,
Jorja Roberson,
Rylee Tittle,
Laura Leigh Wheeler,
Alivia Wilken and
Gyvan Hammons.
The five players that will officially graduate Friday are Shaw, Roberson, Tittle, Wheeler and Hammons.
As far as on field implications, UNA has already solidified its place in the 2026 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship for next week's tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. However, seeding will be on the line. UNA is currently in third place in the standings based on win percentage and will hope to finish with more wins than Eastern Kentucky and/or Central Arkansas this weekend to receive a first round bye.
Bellarmine, however, has already been eliminated from postseason contention and will be playing to try and end on a high note.
SERIES INFO
Teams: North Alabama vs. Bellarmine
Dates: May 1-2
Location: Florence, Ala.
Venue: Hilda B. Anderson Softball Stadium
Friday Promotion: Furry Friend Friday, Dena Kitts First Pitch, Graduation Postgame
Saturday Promotion: Senior Day Celebration (Pre-game)
Game 1 —
ESPN+ |
Live Stats |
Tickets |
Game Notes
Game 2 —
ESPN+ |
Live Stats |
Tickets |
Game Notes
Game 3 —
ESPN+ |
Live Stats |
Tickets |
Game Notes
NOTES
LAST TIME OUT: UNA traveled to Central Arkansas and lost a close series, falling by one run in the first two games by a 2-1 and 6-5 final. UNA salvaged the series on Sunday with a thrilling 7-3 win, forcing extra innings and scoring four runs in the ninth inning.
Gyvan Hammons led the way with seven hits in the series, while
Rylee Tittle got the win in game three with 7.0 innings with just one run allowed.
WE'RE IN: Following a three-game sweep of Austin Peay two weeks ago, UNA clinched an automatic bid to the 2026 ASUN Championship hosted by North Florida in Jacksonville. All eight spots in the 2026 ASUN Championship have been decided. The field includes Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky and North Alabama from the ASUN Gold Division, as well as FGCU, Jacksonville, North Florida and Stetson in the ASUN Graphite Division. UNA can finish no lower than a six seed regardless of this weekend's results.
OUR PATH: The top two seeds get a double bye in the tournament, while the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds will get a first round bye and will start in the double elimination round. The 5-8 seeds will play a single-elimination first round game for a chance to face No. 3 or No. 4 in the double elimination portion. With an uneven amount of games due to a weather cancellation, UNA is slightly behind EKU and Central Arkansas in the ASUN Gold Division standings. With a tie that resulted from a drop-dead time between the two, UCA and EKU are both 13-6-1 with a .675 win percentage. UNA is at 14-7 for a 66.7 win percentage. UNA will need to win at least one more game than EKU or UCA this weekend to get a top four seed and will need one more win than both to earn a top two seed and a division championship. EKU travels to Austin Peay for three games, while UCA hosts three against Lipscomb.
HOW SEEDING WORKS: The top teams in each division will be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds with the tiebreaker being NCAA RPI Rankings on Sunday. The second-place teams will be No. 3 and No. 4, the third-place teams will be No. 5 and No. 6 and fourth-place will be No. 7 and No. 8. RPI will also be the tiebreaker for those spots. To view the bracket,
click here.
JUST KEEP WINNING: UNA brings a 32-14 overall record into the weekend, clinching the team's fifth-straight season with at least 30 wins. Head coach
Ashley Cozart has never suffered a losing season in her career with 2026 marking her 17th straight season at .500 or better — 13 of which have been at UNA.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: The Lions are one of two ASUN schools — along with defending champion North Florida — who rank top five in the league in batting average, ERA and fielding percentage. The Lions are hitting .305 to rank fourth, sport a 3.45 ERA to rank second and a .966 fielding percentage to rank fourth. UNA has the fewest errors in the ASUN with just 41. Four seniors lead the pitching staff, while the veteran lineup includes three senior starters and a supporting veteran presence from juniors such as infielders
Briley Dover and
Bayleigh Rouse and outfielder
Emma Kate Wright.
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS: Bellarmine has a 12-35 record overall and a 5-16 record in conference play. Despite their record, the Knights are a competitive team following a 4-3 win over EKU in the series opener last weekend. The other two games finished in a close 5-4 loss and a 6-1 loss in the finale. First year head coach Whitney Arion, who was on staff at EKU last season, has an offense that's led by true freshman Tia Ice with a .315 batting average and 12 multi-base hits. Lele Bennett and Makenzie Cowburn lead the staff with over 100 innings pitched this season.
SERIES HISTORY: UNA has a 17-game win streak against Bellarmine that dates back to 2015. The Lions own a 25-5 record in the series, which dates all the way back to 1999. Of the 30 meetings, exactly half occurred while UNA and Bellarmine were members of NCAA Division II. The rest have come since 2021 — all 15 wins for UNA. Bellarmine hunts its first win over UNA since 2009, dropping five straight series via the sweep.
RECORDS IN LOUISVILLE: The last time UNA played Bellarmine, the Lions set two Division I school records. UNA swept the series in dominant fashion, outscoring the Knights by a combined 39-8 score. The 39 runs are the most in a series since moving up to Division I in 2019. UNA also had 14 runs in one inning of a 17-6 mercy rule victory, marking the most runs in any Division I inning for UNA.
RECORD WATCH, PART TWO: UNA has a few players approaching single-season Division I records, including Dover with 49 runs, Shaw with 30 walks and Hammons with 16 stolen bases. Dover and Shaw are one away from tying their respective records, last set in 2022 by Harley Stokes and Emma Broadfoot, respectively. Hammons needs two stolen bases to tie Lexi Harper's record of 18 set in 2022.
VETERAN GROUP: This year's UNA team features an unusually high number of seniors with nine on the roster. All nine have been regular contributors this season, including four pitchers, three outfielders, one catcher and one utility player. This senior class has combined to play in 573 games over the last three seasons. The four pitchers have combined for 757.1 innings at UNA in that span.
SPORTSCENTER TOP 10: UNA Softball made an appearance on SportsCenter Top 10 for the second time this season following a diving catch by senior centerfielder
Gyvan Hammons against Central Arkansas. Hammons is a potential candidate for ASUN Defensive Player of the Year and an NFCA Gold Glove Award. The other SportsCenter play came from
Laura Leigh Wheeler on March 8 against Detroit Mercy.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: UNA is ranked in two national mid-major polls this week, including a No. 20 ranking by D1Softball and a No. 23 ranking in the Softball America Mid-Major Poll. The No. 1 team in both rankings is Belmont, which split with UNA back in February at Samford's Tournament. UNA won 9-5 and lost 4-3 on a walk-off despite getting two homers off All-American pitcher Maya Johnson. Central Arkansas, who has been virtually even with UNA all season, is just one spot ahead in both polls and in the national RPI at No. 62.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
