Last year, Texas State softball played two top-15 ranked teams in Texas A&M (#5) and Arkansas (#14), along with playing the two teams that competed in the Women’s College World Series Finals in Texas and Texas Tech.
This year, the Bobcats are right back at it with a gauntlet of a schedule outside of conference play in the always competitive Sun Belt. The Bobcats are set to face the #1, #7, #9, #14 and #19 ranked teams in the country based on the Softball America preseason poll.
Here is a breakdown of the ranked opponents on Texas State’s 2026 schedule.
#1 Texas
Texas State is set to go to battle with the defending national champions on Wednesday, March 25, at Bobcat Softball Stadium. Texas leads the all-time series with the Bobcats 34-12 and made easy work of Texas State last season, winning 10-1 in Austin.
Despite being 1-9 in their last 10 games against the Longhorns, the Bobcats have been far more competitive in recent years against a UT program that is consistently among the favorites to win the national championship year in and year out.
#7 Arkansas
For the second straight year, Texas State will welcome the Arkansas Razorbacks to San Marcos. Last year, the Bobcats opened the season with the Razorbacks, ultimately falling 3-1.
Texas State kept the game competitive all the way through, until the 2025 Softball America Player of the Year, Bri Ellis, hit a towering home run to give Arkansas the advantage that would hold through the end of the game.
Arkansas finished the season 44-14 before eventually falling to Ole Miss in the Super Regionals. They will come to San Marcos looking for a repeat of last year’s tournament sweep.
#9 Clemson
The same weekend the Bobcats welcome Arkansas to town, they will also host the ninth-ranked Clemson Tigers. Clemson went 48-14 in 2025 before getting eliminated by the eventual national champion Longhorns in the Austin Super Regional.
The upcoming 2026 matchup will be the first-ever between Texas State and Clemson.
#14 Texas A&M
Texas State will face off with Texas A&M Saturday, March 7, in San Marcos as part of the San Marcos Showdown. The Aggies hold a 23-4 overall record against the Bobcats and have ended Texas State’s season twice in the last three years.
Texas A&M is coming off a 48-11 season, where they made the SEC tournament championship but lost in their own regional, ending their season.
#19 Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is set to come to San Marcos on Thursday, Feb. 19 and will be the Bobcats’ opening game of the River State Classic. Texas State and OSU have met six times and share an even 3-3 record against each other, with TXST winning the last meeting 4-0 in 2016.
OSU went 35-20 last year before being eliminated by Arkansas in the Fayetteville Regional.
Home games galore
Along with the Bobcats’ marquee matchups, one of the major standouts when peering over the schedule is the number of home games Texas State will play.
After beginning the season on the road in Tempe, Ariz., Texas State will return home Valentine’s Day weekend to begin a stretch of 24 straight home games before hitting the road again a month later on March 17.
In total, Texas State will play 36 home games and 21 games on the road. With a schedule as tough as the Bobcats will be facing, the importance of a home-field advantage is hard to overstate.
Texas State will kick off its season against Toledo at the Kajikawa Classic at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, at Alberta B. Farrington Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. The Bobcats’ home opener is set for 5 p.m. Feb. 12, 2026, against the Clemson Tigers. The game against Clemson will be streaming on ESPN+.
