Alabama secured the No. 1 overall seed in the college softball NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 and the second time in program history on Sunday.
While the Crimson Tide hovered in the top five in the national rankings throughout the season, a dominant performance in the SEC tournament leading up to their loss to Texas in the championship propelled them to the top spot. Oklahoma, which ended the regular season at No. 1, surprisingly fell to Georgia in the SEC tournament quarterfinals and ended up with the No. 3 seed in the bracket, which was released Sunday night.
Led by SEC Pitcher of the Year Jocelyn Briski and first-team all-conference slugger Brooke Wells, Alabama enters the tournament with a 49-7 record. The Tide were ranked No. 2 in the RPI and 17th in strength of schedule heading into Sunday morning, two metrics used to help determine tournament seeding.
Texas, which began the season tied at No. 1 in the preseason rankings, was awarded the No. 2 seed. The reigning national champion Longhorns struggled toward the end of conference play, but went on to secure their first SEC tournament championship after a stunning performance from ace Teagan Kavan against Alabama. Texas has a 42-10 record and was ranked No. 4 in the RPI and fifth in strength of schedule heading into Sunday.
All told, the SEC earned six of the top eight national seeds in the bracket. The other national seeds are No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 8 UCLA.
The bracket is set! 🥎
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— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 10, 2026
The other eight regional hosts, seeds 9-16, are Florida State, Georgia, Texas Tech, Duke, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Texas A&M and LSU. Virginia Tech notably missed out on hosting after advancing to the ACC tournament title game, in which the Hokies fell to Florida State.
Georgia Tech, Indiana, Marshall and Michigan were the last four teams into the field, while North Carolina, Northwestern, Nevada and Wichita State were the first four out.
Natalie Honnen, Clemson’s deputy director of athletics and the tournament selection committee chair, said the final bracket is “the closest we’ve ever been to an equitable bracket.”
“We looked at the top 25 results against top 10, top 25 and top 50,” Honnen said. “There was also a lot of discussion on how teams challenge themselves throughout their schedules. The committee stayed consistent with the selection criteria, and in reflection, this year was no different than my last three years as a member of this committee.”
This year marks the first time the NCAA committee ranked not only seeds 1-16, but also 17-32, following the bracket processes used in women’s volleyball and soccer.
The NCAA regionals will feature a double-elimination format, with action beginning Friday. The winners at each of the 16 sites will move on to the Super Regionals, taking place from May 21-24, in which the higher seed will host a best-of-three series. The Super Regionals winners will then head to the Women’s College World Series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., with games beginning on May 28 before concluding with the championship series June 3-5.
Who got snubbed?
While bracket hosts and softball experts Beth Mowins, Jessica Mendoza, Michele Smith and Amanda Scarborough seemed to be pleased with the bracket, there are definitely some contentious decisions that will leave fans angry.
Perhaps most notably, UCLA earned the No. 8 seed over FSU. While the Bruins had the No. 7 RPI, compared to the Seminoles’ No. 10, FSU had two more wins and an ACC tournament title. UCLA was shut down by Jordy Frahm and Nebraska in the Big Ten title game, 7-2, and fell to FSU in a head-to-head matchup back at the Clearwater Invitational earlier in the season, 11-7.
Honnen said the debate between UCLA and FSU was a major sticking point, and it came down to wins against top 10 and top 25 teams in the RPI rankings. She also indicated that the Seminoles’ getting swept by Stanford in an ACC series weighed heavily in the committee’s evaluation.
Now, if both the Bruins and Seminoles advance out of their regionals, ninth-seeded FSU will have to head to Los Angeles in the Super Regional rather than vice versa.
“UCLA was 20-8 versus top 50, including seven top 25 wins versus Nebraska, Florida, Oregon, Duke, LSU, Texas A&M and South Carolina. Only losses to top 50. Better record in top 50 games,” Honnen said. “But again, these were just slight differences there. Despite the head-to-head loss to Florida State, across many comparison points, UCLA was slightly better.”
Selection show viewers may have noticed that the Virginia Tech Hokies did not look very happy when it was revealed they didn’t get the No. 16 seed and the final regional hosting spot — and will instead play at LSU. Going solely on record and how far they went in their conference tournaments, the Hokies have a point. Tech lost narrowly to Florida State in the ACC title game and has a 46-10 record, while LSU is 37-17 and fell in the second round of the SEC tournament. Playing in the SEC often gives teams the upper hand in the eyes of the committee, with strength of schedule and RPI essentially automatically boosted. On paper, this looks like an intriguing matchup, but I’d expect the Hokies to come out playing with fire next weekend.
Lastly, they may be considered villains because of their many transfer additions, but the Texas Tech Red Raiders getting the No. 11 seed is an eye-opener. Yes, the Big 12 is not that strong. Yes, they did fall to Arizona State in the conference tournament. But those results didn’t seem to make much of a difference for the likes of Alabama, UCLA and FSU. So why did it for the Red Raiders? Does a 52-6 record mean nothing anymore? In the eyes of the committee, it’s all about the metrics.
Biggest surprise?
The regional for top-seeded Alabama is no cakewalk — not that it’s necessarily supposed to be. But it was surprising to see Belmont, led by the nation’s strikeout and ERA leader in Maya Johnson, and Southeastern Louisiana, in the Tide’s bracket.
Alabama struggled against an ace in Texas’ Kavan in the SEC championship game, so Johnson vs. the No. 1 seed will be a must-watch game. SE Louisiana had a big upset this season over Oregon, as well as an extra-inning loss against Clemson. The Lions were a big talker in last year’s NCAA Tournament after two upset wins over LSU at the Baton Rouge regional, and this regional has the potential to bring the same fireworks.
Honnen said regional factors came into play with Belmont going into Bama’s bracket.
“For threes and fours (in regional brackets), we have bracketing principles that it’s regionally focused. For Belmont, Alabama was their option,” Honnen said. “So when you go in there, and you’re putting other threes in, there were some locations where they only had one option. Once we did that, Belmont’s only option was Alabama.”
While it’s not necessarily a surprise that Big 12 champion Arizona State didn’t get a hosting bid, the Sun Devils’ placement in Texas A&M’s regional has the potential to be a big surprise in the tournament. I’m calling it now: The Sun Devils will be moving on out of that regional.
Easiest route to OKC?
The bracket truly is balanced, especially when looking at the big picture and what the Super Regional matchups could be. But my gut tells me Arkansas’ path is quite favorable, especially for a team that had the No. 1 RPI entering the NCAA Tournament. The Hogs are nothing if not battle-tested. Their regional of Fordham, South Florida and Washington — which ended the regular season with three straight series losses, two of which were sweeps — looks like a set of nice matchups.
The Razorbacks have one of the best pitchers in the country in Robyn Herron, as well as power hitters like Tianna Bell and Ella McDowell. Duke may be a challenge if that’s how the Super Regionals shape up, but the Blue Devils’ pitching staff has been vulnerable to allowing many runs for much of the season.
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