The NCAA softball tournament bracket has been released as Oklahoma is the No. 3 overall seed, hosting one of the 16 regionals
For the 15th straight season, Oklahoma will be hosting a regional in the 2026 NCAA softball tournament this coming weekend. This is also the 32nd consecutive season the Sooners have made the NCAA tournament. The regional in Norman includes Kansas, Michigan, and Binghamton and will be held at Love's Field from May 15-17.
While the Sooners are the No. 3 overall national seed, the NCAA has created an expanded seeding structure this season. In each quadrant of the bracket, teams are seeded 1-8. While the top 16 national seeds are assigned seeds 1-4 in each quadrant, teams 17-32 will be assigned seeds 5-8. The remaining teams below No. 32 are not seeded.
The SEC continues to show its dominance as six of the top eight seeds are from the premier conference. Over the whole 64-team field, the SEC was able to get 12 of its 15 teams in the tournament.
Here are the top 16 national seeds who will be hosting regionals this week:
- Alabama (SEC)
- Texas (SEC tournament champs)
- Oklahoma (SEC)
- Nebraska (Big Ten tournament champs)
- Arkansas (SEC)
- Florida (SEC)
- Tennessee (SEC)
- UCLA (Big Ten)
- Florida State (ACC tournament champs)
- Georgia (SEC)
- Texas Tech (Big 12)
- Duke (ACC)
- Oklahoma State (Big 12)
- Oregon (Big Ten)
- Texas A&M (SEC)
- LSU (SEC)
Meet the teams in Oklahoma's regional:
1. Oklahoma (48-8, 20-4 SEC) is coming off of an upset loss to Georgia in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament, but the Sooners did manage to claim the SEC regular season title and won every three-game series in conference play. They expect to be the huge favorite in the regional.
2. Kansas (35-19, 14-10 Big 12) has been more than impressive this season. Jayhawk head coach Jennifer McFalls led the team on a massive improvement from last season when they went 22-28 overall and 6-18 in Big 12 play. This is also the first time the Jayhawks have made the NCAA tournament since 2015. Kansas made a Big 12 semifinal appearance last weekend in the conference tournament.
3. Michigan (34-20, 11-13 Big Ten) is coming off of a close 4-2 loss to Nebraska in the Big Ten quarterfinals. Prior to the quarterfinal round, the Wolverines defeated Ohio State in the first round 9-0 in a five inning run-rule. In just NCAA regional play alone, Michigan has a record of 91-27 and have won 18 regionals in its history of the postseason. It is hard to sleep on a team with that much history of success.
4. The Binghamton Bearcats (20-25, 15-5 America East) out of Binghamton, New York is making their third appearance in the NCAA Division I tournament and have won back-to-back America East titles. The Bearcats defeated Massachusetts Lowell twice this past weekend to claim the title and earn the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
Each regional will feature a double elimination bracket. The Norman regional will begin on Friday, May 15 with Oklahoma facing off against Binghamton at 2:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network. Then, Kansas will go up against Michigan at 5:00 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The regional will conclude on Sunday, May 17.
In the week following the regional round, the winner of the Oklahoma regional will play a three-game series in the super regional round against the winner of the Oregon regional.