NCAA Bracket
NEW ORLEANS – Louisiana will host as the No. 13 overall seed in addition to Texas State and South Alabama representing the Sun Belt Conference in NCAA Softball Regionals beginning Friday, May 17, as announced during Sunday evening’s selection show on ESPN2.
The Sun Belt is one of just six conferences with at least teams featured in the NCAA field and receives multiple bids for the 12th time in conference history. The trio of bids also marks the most for the league since 2021.
Entering postseason play, the Sun Belt boasts the No. 6 RPI among conferences nationally behind the SEC, Pac-12, Big 12, ACC, and Big Ten.
Sun Belt regular season champion and 18th-ranked Louisiana (42-17) has earned the right to host the Lafayette Regional at Lamson Park as the No. 13 overall seed. The Ragin’ Cajuns put together a standout season this spring which included a 22-2 mark in Sun Belt play along with seven straight weeks ranked in the ESPN/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25. Louisiana also faced one of the nation’s toughest schedules, highlighted by a takedown of then-No. 1 Oklahoma. The Ragin’ Cajuns will make their 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 33rd in program history. Since 1990, the Ragin’ Cajuns have missed the NCAA’s postseason event only once (1998).
The Cajuns will host Ivy League tournament champion Princeton on Friday, May 17 at 4:30 p.m. CT. Ole Miss and Baylor will face off in the other first round matchup in Lafayette.
Sun Belt tournament champion Texas State (45-13) is bound for the Bryan-College Station Regional, as the Bobcats are headed to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season and the third time in the past five years. Texas State – which secured its second conference crown in program history and its first since 2018 – carries a season-long eight-game winning streak into the tournament, where it owns a 12-22 all-time record.
The Bobcats will challenge Penn State in their first round matchup at 3 p.m. CT on May 17 at Davis Diamond on the campus of Texas A&M University. Host and No. 16 overall seed Texas A&M will take on Albany in its first game.
South Alabama (32-18-1) earned the Sun Belt’s final bid to the tournament and is headed to the Gainesville Regional. The Jaguars will open their sixth NCAA tournament appearance in program history and their first since 2021 against Florida Atlantic on Friday at 1:30 p.m. CT. Gainesville Regional host and No. 4 overall seed Florida will face Florida Gulf Coast in its first contest.
The Jaguars put together an impressive regular season in which they took down six opponents ranked in the Top 25 including Mississippi State, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas State, and a tie over Arizona. The Jags also posted a 4-2 mark in 2024 against opponents from the SEC.
Sun Belt softball programs have now earned 21 NCAA berths over the past 10 seasons.
The winner of each double-elimination regional tournament will compete in NCAA Super Regionals from May 23-26, with the victors advancing to the 2024 College World Series which begins May 30 in Oklahoma City.