The 2026 Southern Conference softball tournament was held from May 7 through May 10 at Frost Stadium on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The winner of the conference tournament, UNC Greensboro, received an automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I softball tournament.
Format and Seeding All eight SoCon softball teams will participate in the tournament and will be seeded based on conference record. The bottom four seeds will play in a single-elimination play-in round to begin the tournament. The two play-in round winners will then join the top four seeds in a six-team double-elimination tournament, with the top two seeds receiving byes into the third round, and the third and fourth placed teams playing the play-in round winners in the second round. The Mercer Bears are defending champions, having won the 2025 edition of the tournament.
Bracket Game times are in EDT.Rankings denote tournament seed.Superscripted number next to scores denote games that use extra innings or the run rule.Source: Southern Conference
Schedule GameTime*Matchup#ScoreReference Day 1 (Thursday, May 7) 1 10:00 a.m. No. 5 Chattanooga vs. No. 8 Furman 10–3 2 1:00 p.m. No. 6 East Tennessee State vs. No. 7 Mercer 7–0 3 4:00 p.m. No. 5 Chattanooga vs. No. 4 Wofford 0–2 4 7:00 p.m. No. 6 East Tennessee State vs. No. 3 Western Carolina 1–2 Day 2 (Friday, May 8) 5 10:00 a.m. No. 4 Wofford vs. No. 1 UNC Greensboro 4–19(5) 6 1:00 p.m. No. 3 Western Carolina vs. No. 2 Samford 1–14(5) 7 4:00 p.m. No. 6 East Tennessee State vs. No. 4 Wofford 4–5 8 7:00 p.m. No. 5 Chattanooga vs. No. 3 Western Carolina 7–6 Day 3 (Saturday, May 9) 9 10:00 a.m. No. 1 UNC Greensboro vs. No. 2 Samford 5–0 10 1:00;p.m. No. 4 Wofford vs. No. 5 Chattanooga 0–7 11 7:00 p.m. No. 2 Samford vs. No. 5 Chattanooga 8–6 Day 4 (Sunday, May 10) 12 1:00 p.m. No. 1 UNC Greensboro vs. No. 2 Samford 4–0 * Game times are in EDT.# Rankings denote tournament seed.Superscripted number next to scores denote games that use extra innings or the run rule.Source: Southern Conference
All Tournament Team Player Team Avery Bouquin UNC Greensboro Laney Deane Macy Michael Brooklyn Shroyer Baileigh Pitts Chattanooga Taylor Long Katie Hart Samford Olivia Shaw Makinley Turner Lily Bell Western Carolina MVP in boldSource:
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