By admin 
DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Despite losing to Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals, Duke softball still did enough during the season to play at home to open the NCAA Softball Championship Tournament.
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The Blue Devils earned the No. 12 overall seed in the country — the final No. 3 seed in the four brackets — and will host the Durham Regional this weekend. It will be the fifth time Duke is hosting in program history, and it comes in its sixth consecutive appearance in the national softball tournament.
The host team will open the double-elimination regional Friday at noon against Howard at Smith Family Stadium. Then in the second game, No. 6-seed Arizona will face off against Marshall.
On Saturday, the winners of Game 1 and Game 2 will square off at 1 p.m. The teams that lost on Friday will then play in the second game. The nightcap third game will feature the winner of Game 4 against the loser of Game 3.
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Sunday’s game (or games, if necessary) will determine who will come out of the regional and move on to the super regional round. The winners of Game 3 and Game 5 will clash at noon. If the loser of the noon game had not previously lost during the weekend, the two teams will play again at 2:30 p.m.
Here’s the schedule for the Durham Regional for the 2026 NCAA Softball Championship.
Friday, May 15
Game 1: Duke vs. Howard, 12 p.m.
Game 2: Arizona vs. Marshall, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 16
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 1 p.m.
Game 4: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 3:30 p.m.
Game 5: Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3, 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 17
Game 6: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5, 12 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary): Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, 2:3 p.m.
The winner of the Durham Regional will face the winner of the Fayetteville Regional. Arkansas, a No. 2 seed, is hosting No. 7-seed Washington, Fordham and South Florida.
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