NEW ORLEANS — For the fourth time in league history, three Sun Belt Conference teams - South Alabama, Texas State and Marshall - will compete in NCAA Softball Regionals as announced during Sunday evening’s selection show on ESPN2.
The Sun Belt is the only non-autonomy conference to receive multiple at-large bids in the 2026 NCAA field and is one of just six conferences with multiple teams featured in the bracket.
The Sun Belt produced multiple bids for the 13th time in conference history. The league also earned at least three NCAA selections for the second time in the last three seasons and the third time in the last six years (2021, 2024, 2026).
Sun Belt softball programs have now earned 25 NCAA berths over the past 12 seasons and at least one at-large bid in 11 of the last 14 NCAA Tournaments.
Entering postseason play, the Sun Belt boasts the No. 5 RPI among conferences nationally behind the SEC, Big 12, ACC, and Big Ten. The Sun Belt is one of just five conferences with 11 of its teams ranked in the top 100 of the NCAA’s Division I Softball RPI Rankings. The Sun Belt is also the only non-autonomy conference with four teams listed inside the top 50.
Sun Belt tournament champion South Alabama (32-25) is bound for the Baton Rouge Regional to make its seventh NCAA Regional appearance in program history and second trip in the last three seasons. The Jaguars won their first Sun Belt tournament title since 2015 with victories over Southern Miss, regular season champion ULM and Texas State in consecutive days.
The Jags will face fifth-seeded Virginia Tech (46-10) in its first game on Friday, May 15 at 3 p.m. (CT) at Tiger Park. Host and No. 16 overall seed LSU (37-17) and Akron (34-23) will face off in the other first round matchup in Baton Rouge, La..
Sun Belt tournament runner-up Texas State (38-20) will compete in the Gainesville Regional and is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four seasons and the 12th time overall. The Bobcats secured an impressive 11 wins over RPI top 50 teams during the regular season, including a trio of top 25 wins against Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Clemson.
Texas State will challenge Georgia Tech (30-27) in its first-round matchup on Friday at 12:30 p.m., at Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium on the campus of the University of Florida. Host and No. 6 overall seed Florida (48-10) will take on Florida A&M (32-20) in its first game of the regional.
Marshall (37-17) is headed to the Durham Regional hosted by Duke University for their third NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and first since 2017. The Thundering Herd earned nine total wins against conference champions this season including UConn (3), Akron (2), South Alabama (2), Boston University (1) and Florida A&M (1).
The Herd will face sixth-seeded Arizona (35-16) in their first matchup on Friday at 1:30 p.m., at Smith Family Stadium in Durham, N.C. The tournament’s No. 12 overall seed, Duke (39-14) will battle Howard (28-17) in its first game of the regional.
The winner of each double-elimination regional tournament will compete in NCAA Super Regionals from May 21-24, with the victors advancing to the 2026 College World Series which begins May 28 in Oklahoma City.