The NCAA softball tournament 2026 kicks off with regionals at 16 sites, featuring a double-elimination format. Alabama is the No. 1 seed, followed by Texas and Oklahoma, with no clear favorite for the title.
Key points
NCAA softball tournament 2026 starts with regionals at 16 sites
Alabama is the No. 1 national seed
Double-elimination format for regionals
Eight teams seeded in each quadrant of the bracket
The road to the Women's College World Series begins with the regionals this weekend at 16 sites around the country.
The first round of the NCAA softball tournament will help begin the sorting process in a postseason that figures to be wide open. Alabama earned the No. 1 national seed, leading three SEC teams at the top of the bracket with Texas at No. 2 and Oklahoma No. 3, but there is no consensus favorite in 2026 with numerous schools maintaining legitimate title hopes.
The opening weekend consists of four-team regionals with a double-elimination format. The seeding is different this year, with eight teams seeded in each quadrant of the bracket. That means two teams in each regional will have seeds: No. 1 and No. 8, No. 2 and No. 7, and so on.
There are no gimmes here; top overall seed Texas A&M got bounced in the regionals last year. But the first step in making it to Oklahoma City is surviving the first weekend. Here's when and where to watch every game.
See every story in Sports ā including breaking news and analysis.
NCAA softball tournament games will air across a variety of ESPN platforms, with select games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Network. Fans can stream those games live on fubo, which offers a free trial, or stream every game via the ESPN app.
After years of seeding 16 teams nationally, with each hosting a regional, there are now 32 national seeds ā eight in each quadrant of the bracket. That means each quadrant has teams seeded No. 1 through No. 8, with the top two in each quadrant in line to host super regionals if they advance. The teams seeded 17-32 nationally are broken into four "buckets" that try to balance competitiveness with geography in determining regionals.
Super regional matchups remain based on national seeds, so the winner of the No. 1 seed's regional (regardless of which team it is) will face the winner of the No. 16 seed's regional in the supers, and so on.
National seed
Team
Quadrant seed
Regional
No. 1
Alabama
No. 1
Tuscaloosa
No. 2
Texas
No. 1
Austin
No. 3
Oklahoma
No. 1
Norman
No. 4
Nebraska
No. 1
Lincoln
No. 5
Arkansas
No. 2
Fayetteville
No. 6
Florida
No. 2
Gainesville
No. 7
Tennessee
No. 2
Knoxville
No. 8
UCLA
No. 2
Los Angeles
No. 9
Florida State
No. 3
Tallahassee
No. 10
Georgia
No. 3
Athens
No. 11
Texas Tech
No. 3
Lubbock
No. 12
Duke
No. 3
Durham
No. 13
Oklahoma State
No. 4
Stillwater
No. 14
Oregon
No. 4
Eugene
No. 15
Texas A&M
No. 4
College Station
No. 16
LSU
No. 4
Baton Rouge
No. 17-20
Virginia Tech
No. 5
Baton Rouge
No. 17-20
Arizona State
No. 5
College Station
No. 17-20
Mississippi State
No. 5
Eugene
No. 17-20
Stanford
No. 5
Stillwater
No. 21-24
Arizona
No. 6
Durham
No. 21-24
Ole Miss
No. 6
Lubbock
No. 21-24
Clemson
No. 6
Athens
No. 21-24
UCF
No. 6
Tallahassee
No. 25-28
South Carolina
No. 7
Los Angeles
No. 25-28
Virginia
No. 7
Knoxville
No. 25-28
Texas State
No. 7
Gainesville
No. 25-28
Washington
No. 7
Fayetteville
No. 29-32
Louisville
No. 8
Lincoln
No. 29-32
Kansas
No. 8
Norman
No. 29-32
Wisconsin
No. 8
Austin
No. 29-32
SE Louisiana
No. 8
Tuscaloosa
NCAA softball tournament schedule 2026
The round-by-round schedule for this year's tournament is below:
Selection show: Sunday, May 10, 7 p.m. ET
Regionals: Friday, May 15-Sunday, May 17
Super regionals: Thursday, May 21-Sunday, May 24
Women's College World Series: Thursday, May 28-Friday, June 5
Women's College World Series championship series: Wednesday, June 3-Friday, June 5
