#12 National Seed

Durham Regional

2026 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament · Regional Round

#12 Seed·Durham Regional·Final

Duke Climbs Out — 3 Wins In One Day To Survive

Winner

Duke

CHALK · CALLED IT

WILD in Durham. Duke opened 10-1 over Howard, then got blasted by Arizona 10-1 in the winners' bracket. The Blue Devils rattled off three straight in 24 hours to flip it: 11-1 over Marshall in elimination, 8-6 over Arizona in the championship, 9-4 over Arizona in the if-necessary. Aminah Vega homered twice on Sunday. Curd carried the staff after the Game 4 disaster.

DukeFAVORITE

CircleCassidy Curd — 8-2, 3.26 ERA, 5-inn no-hitter at Cal

ACC Tournament semifinalist.

ArizonaTHREAT

BatSydney Stewart — Big 12 POY, 20 HR, 76 RBI, .573 OBP

Big 12 Tournament runner-up to ASU.

MarshallTHREAT

BatSydni Burko — Sun Belt POY, 18 HR

CircleJules King — 2.70 ERA, 150 K, 6 SV (program record)

Set program record with 89 HR (10th nationally); RPI 28.

HowardEASY OUT

Back-to-back MEAC champs; run-ruled the tournament.

X-Factor

The back-to-back 8-6 / 9-4 wins over Arizona. Duke punished a tiring Stewart in the if-necessary; Vega's 2-run homer in the 4th was the regional turning point.

National Seed

#12

Host

Duke

City

Durham, NC

Dates

May 15-17, 2026

Format

4-team double-elim

Bracket

Friday's first-round matchups

Game 1 — Fri 12:00 PM ET

Final

Duke

Howard

Game 2 — Fri 2:30 PM ET

Final

Arizona

Marshall

Winners meet Saturday at 1:00 PM ET. Losers play an elimination game at 3:30 PM ET. Regional championship Sunday at 12:00 PM ET, with an if-necessary game at 2:30 PM ET.

Schedule

All times Eastern

Game	Date	Time	Matchup	Result	TV
Game 1	Fri, May 15	12:00 PM ET	Howard at Duke	Duke10–1	ESPN+
Game 2	Fri, May 15	2:30 PM ET	Marshall at Arizona	Arizona7–5	ESPN+
Game 3	Sat, May 16	3:30 PM ET	Howard at Marshall	Marshall4–2	ESPN+
Game 4	Sat, May 16	1:00 PM ET	Arizona at Duke	Arizona10–1	ESPN+
Game 5	Sat, May 16	6:00 PM ET	Marshall at Duke	Duke11–1	ESPN+
Game 6	Sun, May 17	12:00 PM ET	Duke at Arizona	Duke8–6	ESPN2
Game 7	Sun, May 17	2:30 PM ET	Arizona at Duke	Duke9–4	ESPN2

Path Forward

Super Regional pairing

The Durham Regional winner advances to face the winner of the Fayetteville Regional (#12 vs #5) in the Super Regional round May 21-24, hosted at the higher national seed (Arkansas). Super Regionals are best-of-three; the winner advances to the Women’s College World Series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, May 28 - June 5.

About the Host

Duke

Duke hosts the Durham Regional in Durham, NC as the #12 national seed of the 2026 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament. Hosting rights are awarded to the top 16 seeds, and the Duke program earned its bid on the strength of its regular-season resume.

All games at this regional are played at the Duke home softball venue, with first pitch on Friday, May 15 and the championship round on Sunday, May 17.