BOILING SPRINGS N.C. - The Gardner-Webb softball team returns to action on February 13th, 14th and 15th, hosting Leigh, Queens and Tennessee Tech for the annual Red and Black Classic

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13th
10:00 am - Tennessee Tech vs Lehigh
12:30 pm - Tennessee Tech vs Queens
3:00 pm - Gardner-Webb vs Lehigh
5:30 pm - Gardner-Webb vs Queens

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14th
10:00 am - Queens vs Tennessee Tech
12:30 pm - Queens vs Lehigh
3:00 pm - Gardner-Webb vs Tennessee Tech
5:30 pm - Gardner-Webb vs Lehigh

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15th
9:00 am - Lehigh vs Tennessee Tech
11:30 pm - Gardner-Webb vs Queens

SCOUTING THE DAWGS: Gardner-Webb enters the 2026 season with 17 returnees on its 25-player roster and four others who arrive via the transfer portal with previous college softball experience. Of those transfers, all featured in games at the Runnin' Bulldog Classic, with sophomore Reese Collier providing walk-off heroics on Friday against Furman and Saturday against Youngstown State

PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE: Among the returnees for Gardner-Webb include the likes of senior right-hander and two-way player Alli Stidham who was named to the preseason All-Big South team. The Saginaw, Texas native tossed 90.2 innings for GWU last spring, posting a 3.63 earned run average, and 45 strikeouts in the circle. Across 37 games and 30 starts, Stidham also swung a powerful bat, hitting .280 for the Runnin' Bulldogs with a .476 slugging percentage, 23 hits, three home runs, and 25 runs batted in

IN THE CIRCLE: The Runnin' Bulldogs will feature significant depth in the circle, not only returning five pitchers from a season ago, but also adding another piece to the rotation with freshman right-hander Glenna McLamb. McLamb joins Stidham along with sophomore Anna Hornbaker, sophomore Hannah Frye, junior Addie Stem, and senior southpaw Kalyn Kyle in making up a loaded rotation. In all, Gardner-Webb has back all 336.1 innings thrown in the circle last spring

FAMILIAR FACES: While the pitching depth stands out, the Runnin' Bulldogs also have a significant number of players on the roster who played big innings last spring. Five players are back for GWU this spring who played in at least 40 games last season, and one who played in over 50. Senior infielder Annicka McLaughlin played 51 games in 2025 and made 49 starts, doing so at an elite pace defensively with 118 putouts, 78 assists, and a team-best .985 fielding percentage for a non-pitcher

LAST TIME OUT: The Runnin' Bulldogs finished the Runnin' Bulldog Classic last Sunday afternoon with a 10-2 win over Furman. GWU went 3-2 over the course of the weekend against Furman, Youngstown State and Tarleton State, with the offense leading the way. The Dawgs hit .352 as a team over the five games, slugged .490 and scored 42 runs, an average of 8.4 per game. In its three wins, Gardner-Webb averaged an astronomical 11 runs per game

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior catcher Taylor Dreher is the active Big South Player of The Week. Dreher had a terrific opening weekend at the Runnin' Bulldog Classic with a .471 batting average, .882 slugging, eight hits, seven doubles, seven runs batted in, and 15 total bases against Furman, Youngstown State and Tarleton State. For her best games of the weekend Dreher finished 3-for-4 with two doubles against Youngstown State in the opener, 3-for-5 with three runs batted in, three doubles in the Saturday game against Youngstown State, and 2-for-3 with two runs scored, three runs batted in, and two doubles against Furman on Sunday. She also drove in the game-winning runs with a two-RBI double to finish Sunday's run-rule win over Furman