GCU Softball Chosen as #3 Seed in Lincoln Regional, Nevada In First Four Out

The GCU Lopes were selected to the Lincoln Regional in the 2026 NCAA Softball Tournament. | GCU Softball on Twitter/X

The GCU Lopes and Nevada Wolf Pack learned their NCAA Tournament fates today. The conference champion Lopes will head to Lincoln, Nebraska as what amounts to a regional 9-seed, facing #8-seeded Louisville in the first round. Meanwhile, the Wolf Pack’s horrific weekend somehow got even worse, missing the tournament as expected, but doing so as one of the first four teams out for the second year in a row.

The Lincoln Regional is being hosted by the #4 national seeded, #1 bracket seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers (46-6), who just won the Big Ten title. Nebraska won the Baton Rouge Regional a year ago, falling to #7-seed Tennessee in a three-game Super Regional set in Knoxville. 31 of the Huskers’ 46 wins have come against teams ranked in the top 100 in RPI, including 19 against those in the top 50. Both totals are a far cry from the Lopes’ resume (13 and five, respectively). The Huskers were the #2 team in the country entering the weekend, yet the perpetual stain that is SEC bias led to #3 Alabama and #6 Texas jumping the Huskers, as well as Oklahoma, who went one-and-done in the SEC Tournament, staying above them. Nebraska will likely be feeling slighted, making this dominant team even more threatening.

The second seed in this regional is the #8 bracket seed, the Louisville Cardinals (42-12). Louisville is ranked #29 in RPI, just two spots behind the Lopes. Louisville is 19-10 against teams ranked in the top 100, and are coming off of a narrow loss to #5 bracket seed Stanford in the ACC quarterfinal. The Cardinals are a formidible foe, and one that should give the Lopes all they can handle off the bat.

Finally, the “cupcake” of the regional: South Dakota. The Coyotes are just 20-34-1, ranked 159th in RPI. However, USD got here by upsetting persistent mid-major thorn Omaha in the Summit League championship, knocking the Mavericks out of the tournament entirely. USD is flying high, but are more than likely to end up being the losers’ bracket counterpart to whoever loses the GCU-Louisville game.

Overall, this is a tough regional for GCU. No matter what, they will almost certainly end up making it to at least the loser’s quarterfinal, given the perceived weakness of South Dakota. However, I must mention the fact that the Lopes have actually played the Coyotes earlier in the season in Phoenix, narrowly beating them in a 1-0 final. South Dakota can give teams a challenge as well, so the Lopes would be foolish to take anybody in this bracket lightly.