2026 Houston softball preview: Underdogs from the underground

The underdog. That one team that almost everyone writes off at the beginning of the season. 

But out of nowhere, they go on a run that exceeds all expectations they had before. 

That is the mindset Houston softball has going into the 2026 season.

“I think we are the underdogs for sure, and from what I’ve seen, we’re gonna do great,” said junior outfielder Jordee Wilkins, who led the team in runs, doubles and triples in 2025 and finished second in home runs with three.

Houston enters the season at the bottom of the Big 12 standings, but is putting full faith and confidence in first-year head coach Chrissy Schoonmaker. In the conference’s softball preseason rankings, the Cougars finished dead last in 11th place with 11 votes. 

It’s the third consecutive year that Houston has finished last in the preseason polls since joining the Big 12 in 2024. However, that has only motivated the Cougars to improve and go further in the season.

“We’re the underdog and we know it, and we’re just embracing that underdog mentality,” Schoonmaker said. “We’re a gritty team, we’re a competitive team. The storyline we are talking about with our team is that we have a blank canvas, and we get to write our story. No one gets to write the story except the Houston Cougars.”

Schoonmaker is no stranger to the city of Houston, as she served as an assistant coach with the Cougars in 2014 under the leadership of Kyla Holas. In that season, the Cougars went 33-23 overall and received an at-large bid in the Waco Regional.

Serving as the team’s infield coach, she helped lead the group that set the single-season program record for double plays turned and helped increase the team’s fielding percentage from the previous season by 12 points.

When she got the call from athletic director Eddie Nuñez to come back and coach the team, she couldn’t refuse.

“I had a great call with Eddie Nuñez,” Schoonmaker said. “People spoke really highly about him in the industry and the vision that he has for Houston. His vision, specifically for softball, is something that really excited me.”

Now, Schoonmaker is back, this time as the person in charge and looking to leave her mark on the program.

Schoonmaker made sure to pick the right personnel for her coaching staff. That staff includes Jeff Contril, a long-time hitting coach, Jordan Gontrom, who previously served as part of Schoonmaker’s staff at George Washington, and former U.S. and New Zealand national team player Nyree White.

The Cougars didn’t get a lot of transfers during the offseason, large due to the coaching turnover.

Infielder Kylei Griffin comes in from Texas A&M for her senior season. She played in 31 games as a pinch hitter and played a crucial role last season in helping the Aggies finish as co-SEC Champions and make the regional finals, bringing in tournament experience to the team.

Pitcher London Park joins from Illinois for her sophomore season. She made eight appearances, with two starts, struck out eight batters, and earned her first-ever collegiate win in a game against Illinois State on Mar. 12, 2025.

But the bulk lies in multiple returning players to help keep team chemistry up.

Key returners include Wilkins, redshirt senior pitcher Nicole Bodeux, who recorded six scoreless appearances in 2025, and junior infielder Makenna Mitchell, who led the team last season in multi-RBI games with 11 and was the only player on the team to post a multi-homer game.

In bringing all of these pieces together, Houston will begin its season Thursday, Feb. 5, when it takes on the Houston Christian Huskies at Cougar Softball Stadium at 4 p.m, the first of four games in the Houston Tournament.