INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division I Softball Championship Subcommittee announced the 64-team field that will compete in the 2026 NCAA Division I Softball Championship. Thirty-one conferences were awarded an automatic qualification, while the remaining 33 positions were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket.
For the first year, the top 32 teams were seeded nationally in pods of four. Per the established bracketing principles, the top 16 seeds were provided the opportunity to host. Additionally, team pairings are determined within the pods (ones paired with eights, twos paired with sevens, threes paired with sixes and fours paired with fives) and assigned geographically within their pods, with the exception that teams from the same conference are not paired at the same regional.
Regionals will be held May 15-17 with each site hosting a four-team, double-elimination tournament. The 16 winning teams will advance to the super-regional round.
Super regionals for the championship will be held May 21-24 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format.
The winners from each super regional will advance to the NCAA Women’s College World Series from May 28-June 4/5 at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.
Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska earned the top four seeds in this year’s tournament. The top four seeds have combined for 10 national titles in the tournament’s history including the last five. Alabama notched a 49-7 record on the year behind the nation’s second-best earned run average of 1.60, including 22 shutouts. Texas, the 2025 national champion, won the SEC Tournament yesterday for the program’s first SEC title and first conference title since 2005. The Longhorns posted their sixth consecutive season under head coach Mike White with at least 42 wins. Oklahoma has its eyes set on their ninth national title after claiming four straight from 2021 to 2024. Their explosive offense leads the nation with a .389 batting average while being one of two teams to break the NCAA single season home run record tallying 174 on the year. Heading into the tournament on a 21-game winning streak, Nebraska earned the Big Ten automatic bid with their 11th conference tournament title in school history. It marks the ninth time in program history that they have won the conference regular season and tournament titles in the same season.
Akron, California Baptist, Idaho State, South Dakota and Wagner are making their first appearances in the tournament. UCLA leads the field with their 41st postseason appearance while Washington holds the longest active streak with 32 consecutive appearances.
In 2026, Texas won its first national championship in program history by defeating Texas Tech in the best-of-three championship finals.
ESPN will provide coverage from all 16 regional sites on its platforms, which was announced during the NCAA Softball Selection Show. ESPN will televise every game of the super regionals for the 19th consecutive season, 2020 notwithstanding, since 2007. This year also marks the 26th consecutive year that ESPN will televise every game of the Women’s College World Series.
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REGIONAL SITES:
May 15-17
Athens Regional – Athens, Georgia
Austin Regional – Austin, Texas
Baton Rouge Regional – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
College Station Regional – College Station, Texas
Durham Regional – Durham, North Carolina
Eugene Regional – Eugene, Oregon
Fayetteville Regional – Fayetteville, Arkansas
Gainesville Regional – Gainesville, Florida
Knoxville Regional – Knoxville, Tennessee
Lincoln Regional – Lincoln, Nebraska
Los Angeles Regional – Los Angeles, California
Lubbock Regional – Lubbock, Texas
Norman Regional – Norman, Oklahoma
Stillwater Regional – Stillwater, Oklahoma
Tallahassee Regional – Tallahassee, Florida
Tuscaloosa Regional – Tuscaloosa, Alabama
2026 NCAA DIVISION I SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS
*Automatic Qualifier
American Conference (1)
- *South Florida
America East Conference (1)
- *Binghamton
Atlantic Coast Conference (8)
- Clemson
- Duke
- *Florida State
- Georgia Tech
- Louisville
- Stanford
- Virginia
- Virginia Tech
Atlantic Sun Conference (1)
- *Stetson
Atlantic 10 Conference (1)
- *Fordham
Big 12 Conference (7)
- Arizona
- *Arizona State
- Baylor
- Kansas
- Oklahoma State
- Texas Tech
- UCF
Big East Conference (1)
- *UConn
Big Sky Conference (1)
- *Idaho State
Big South Conference (1)
- *University of South Carolina Upstate
Big Ten Conference (7)
- Indiana
- Michigan
- *Nebraska
- Oregon
- UCLA
- Washington
- Wisconsin
Big West Conference (1)
- *Cal State Fullerton
Coastal Athletic Association (1)
- *College of Charleston
Conference USA (1)
- *Jacksonville State
Horizon League (1)
- *Northern Kentucky
The Ivy League (1)
- *Princeton
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (1)
- *Marist
Mid-American Conference (1)
- *Akron
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (1)
- *Howard
Missouri Valley Conference (1)
- *Belmont
Mountain West Conference (1)
- *Grand Canyon
Northeast Conference (1)
- *Wagner
Ohio Valley Conference (1)
- *Eastern Illinois
Patriot League (1)
- *Boston U.
Southeastern Conference (12)
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Georgia
- LSU
- Mississippi State
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- *Texas
- Texas A&M
Southern Conference (1)
- *UNC Greensboro
Southland Conference (2)
- *McNeese
- Southeastern Louisiana
Southweatern Athletic Conference (1)
- *Florida A&M
The Summit League (1)
- *South Dakota
Sun Belt Conference (3)
- Marshall
- *South Alabama
- Texas State
West Coast Conference (1)
- *Saint Mary's (California)
Western Athletic Conference (1)
- *California Baptist
