Bears Open 2026 Season, Host Heart Of Georgia Classic

MACON – The defending Southern Conference champion Mercer softball team will lift the lid on its 40^th season of intercollegiate softball this weekend when the Bears suit up to host the 3-day, 4-team Heart of Georgia Classic at Sikes Field.

Tickets for the event are still available and can be purchased at the gate. A 10-game tournament pass will be on sale for $20, 2-day passes are $15 and a 1-day pass is $10. Fans unable to make the trip to Middle Georgia can still follow all of the action for free via live statistics links provided by the MU athletics department.

Evansville and Maine will kick off the round-robin tournament on Friday at 10 a.m. MU will play its first of two games on Friday at 3 p.m. when it tangles with Evansville, and will take the field again at 5:30 p.m. against North Carolina A&T.

The Bears return seven players off of last year's squads that registered a 40-26 record, including an 11-9 mark inside SoCon play. The Orange & Black rattled off an incredulous 7-1 run through the 2025 SoCon Tournament on the way to securing the program's first berth into the NCAA postseason where it inevitably recorded a 2-2 mark at the Gainesville (Fla.) Regional.

Veteran head coach Chris Kuhlmeyer took over the reins of MU's program in June after spending the previous seven seasons at Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) where he amassed nearly 160 victories and four NCAA postseason appearances.

Bears Open 2026 Season, Host Heart Of Georgia Classic

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