The James Madison Dukes softball team represents James Madison University in NCAA Division I college softball. The team participates in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) and plays home games in Veterans Memorial Park. JMU has won six CAA championships, including back-to-back Championships in 2016 and 2017. The Dukes have been to the NCAA Division I softball tournament nine times, hosting Regionals and Super Regionals in 2016. The team's head coach is Loren LaPorte, leading the Dukes to a 197âÂÂ74 record in six seasons.
2021 Season
After a dominant performance in the regular season, the Dukes entered the postseason with a 34âÂÂ1 record. In the CAA tournament, the Dukes beat Delaware for their sixth conference title and were rewarded with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA softball tournament.
The Dukes advanced to the Super Regionals after beating #9 Tennessee and #25 Liberty twice in the Knoxville Regional. They then went on to beat #8 Mizzou on the road in the best-of-three series in Columbia, Missouri.
After punching their ticket to the Women's College World Series (WCWS) for the first time, the James Madison Dukes advanced to the WCWS semifinals after beating #1 Oklahoma 4âÂÂ3 in eight innings and #5 Oklahoma State 2âÂÂ1 in the first and second rounds of the tournament. In doing so, they became the first-ever unseeded team to start 2âÂÂ0 in the WCWS and reach the semifinal games. Their historic run came to a close just short of the finals, falling to eventual champions #1 Oklahoma twice.