The St. John’s softball team will begin its 2026 season at the Charleston Invitational in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Over three days, the Red Storm is scheduled to play five games against Siena, Charleston Southern, Central Michigan, Charleston, and George Mason.
The tournament opens on Friday with a game against Siena at noon, followed by a matchup with Charleston Southern at 5 p.m. On Saturday, St. John’s faces Central Michigan at 12:30 p.m. and then plays Charleston at 5:30 p.m. The weekend concludes Sunday morning with a contest against George Mason.
Fans can watch the game against Charleston Southern on ESPN+, while the matchup with Charleston will be broadcast on FloSports. Live statistics for all games will be available on RedStormSports.com.
This event marks the start of a stretch of 20 consecutive road games for St. John’s to open the season.
St. John’s was selected as the preseason favorite in the 2026 BIG EAST Coaches’ Poll, its highest ranking since being picked to win the conference in 2018.
Head Coach Michelle DePolo enters her third year leading St. John’s and her fifteenth overall as a head coach. In 2025, she guided the team to its fourth BIG EAST regular season title and set a program record with 39 wins. Following that season, DePolo and assistant coaches Marissa Rizzi and Sean Crowell received the 2025 BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year award.
Returning players include four All-BIG EAST selections led by pitcher Ana Serafinko, who was named league pitcher of the year and First Team selection after posting a 2.25 ERA and setting a program record with 282 strikeouts last season. She is joined by fellow pitcher Loreley Francia, also an All-BIG EAST First Team honoree who led the conference with a 1.98 ERA and allowed only 34 hits as a junior.
Other returning standouts are Jess Bianco and Madison Konopka, both Second Team All-BIG EAST selections. Bianco broke single-season records for runs scored (54) and hits (74), batting .389 last year—the second-highest average on the team—while Konopka had an impactful rookie campaign that included six doubles and being named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on March 17.
Siena enters this tournament after finishing last season with a record of 36-21-1, led by Emma Petersen—who topped her conference in doubles—and Gracie Goeway—who finished second in ERA in their league and tied for most strikeouts in a single MAAC game as a sophomore.
Charleston Southern returns after going 20-29 overall last year; junior Jordyn Diamond was named to this year’s Big South Preseason All-Conference Team.
Central Michigan finished last season at 26-25 overall with a strong showing in their conference play (17-8 MAC). The upcoming meeting between St. John’s and Central Michigan will be only their second ever; they last played each other in March of 2019.
Charleston improved significantly from their previous year’s performance under new Head Coach Maggie Mrowka—posting an overall record of 31-25 including a strong conference run (20-7).
George Mason rounds out St. John’s opponents at this invitational; they ended last season with an overall record of 18-35.
After competing in South Carolina, St. John’s will participate in The Spring Games held from February 13–15 in Leesburg, Florida where they are scheduled to face Alabama State, LIU, Bethune-Cookman, and Southern Mississippi twice each.
