The consensus #2 Nebraska Cornhuskers were awarded the #4 national seed for the 2026 NCAA Softball Tournament and will begin play this Friday May 15th at 5:30pm vs. the #4-seed Summit League tourney champion South Dakota (20-34-1, 7-11 conference). The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. The Lincoln regional will be hosted on Rhonda Revelle Field at Bowlin Stadium.
Louisville and Grand Canyon round out the Lincoln bracket and are the #2 and #3 seeds respectively. South Dakota earned the Summit League
auto-bid by defeating UNO 2-1 in the title game Saturday after UNO had forced their way in to the winner-take-all if-needed game with a 10-1 victory earlier in the day.
Before the Huskers and Yotes square off, the Cardinals and the Antelopes will open Lincoln regional play at 3pm CST.
As a top-8 seed, Nebraska is guaranteed a second host weekend for the ensuing best 2-of-3 NCAA Super Regional the following weekend. Oklahoma State (38-15, 16-8 Big 12) is the national #13-seed for the tournament and would be the opponent in Lincoln should both teams win their regionals. Omaha Skutt’s Ruby Meylan would likely pitch every game for the Cowgirls should this scenario come to pass.
This will be Nebraska’s 28th NCAA Tournament appearance and the 24th for Head Coach Rhonda Revelle which ranks fifth among active coaches at their current school. The Huskers rank 14th all-time in NCAA Tournament appearances, 20th in wins (69) and 15th in Women’s College World Series appearances (7).
This is the fifth time Nebraska has hosted an NCAA regional and the first since 2013. That season also marked the Huskers’ last appearance in the Women’s College World Series.
Ticket Info & Other Notes
- Tickets for the 2026 Lincoln Regional will go on sale to the public today, Monday May 11, at 3 p.m. (CT) and will be available here. There will be a tiered on-sale for Nebraska Athletics donors before the public on-sale.
- SE Louisiana, Nebraska’s opponent in last year’s Baton Rouge Regional final is back in the tourney and the #2-seed in the Tuscaloosa regional being hosted by #1 National seed Alabama. The Lady Lions had a big upset this season over Oregon and have speed to burn. They defeated LSU twice in the regional last season – can they stun the SEC again on an even bigger stage?
- In a hotly contested battle for the #8 national seed, UCLA was given the nod over Florida State. You can read about the particulars leading to the decision in The Athletic, but should both advance, you can bet Florida State will be heading to LA on blast.
- The Big 10 got seven teams in the tourney and line was razor thin for three. Michigan and Indiana were in the group of Last 4 In and Northwestern just missed as one of the First 4 Out.
- The RPI of Nebraska’s opponents is as follows: Grand Canyon #27, Louisville #29 and South Dakota #159. UNO would have likely been a lock for the #3-seed in Lincoln had they not been upset by the Coyotes, but those two losses to a team ranked so low knocked them off the bubble dropping their RPI to #51.
- Here is the D1 Softball RPI Top 20 – Strength of Schedule can be found in the third column:
Lincoln Regional Schedule
TV/Streaming TBD as the tournament progresses.
- May 15
- May 16
- Game 3: 12 p.m. | Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
- Game 4: 2:30 p.m. | Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
- Game 5: 5 p.m. | Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3
- May 17
- Game 6: 2 p.m. | Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5
- Game 7 (if necessary): 4:30 p.m. | Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5
