For the 26th time in program history, Florida softball is bound for the postseason.
The Gators officially clinched No. 6 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The squad will host the Gainesville Regional – featuring Texas State, Georgia Tech and Florida A&M – at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium beginning Friday, May 15 at 11 a.m. with the Gators vs. the Rattlers.
UF is in line to host a Super Regional as well to begin Thursday, May 21 or Friday, May 22. The Gainesville Regional is paired with the Lubbock Regional with Ole Miss, Marist, Boston University and No. 11 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders, the defending national runner-ups with National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady and former Gator Mia Williams, were upset by Arizona State in the Big 12 Championship Game. That might have cost TTU a top eight seed.
The NCAA Tournament selection committee changed the way brackets were presented this season. Not only is the committee ranking teams No. 1-32 this year as opposed to just 1-16, but each team will be placed in a quadrant.
The top 16 teams will be seeded 1-4 in each of the four quadrants. The top four national seeds will be No. 1 in each quadrant, and so on and so forth.
Teams from 17-32 will be seeded 5-8 in each of the four quadrants. This system, similar to what is used in women’s soccer and volleyball, is used to prevent intra-conference matchups – which the committee doesn’t allow in regionals.
Florida is the No. 2 seed in the second quadrant.
The Gators have taken some beatings in the last three weeks. It lost one game to Auburn – the No. 14 team in the SEC – at home. They split with rival Florida State and then lost a series at Georgia – the last game coming via run-rule.
In the SEC Tournament, UF hung on to defeat a feisty Auburn squad, but it was then run-ruled by Alabama in the semifinals for the first time in 14 years.
Get tickets for Florida softball in the NCAA Gainesville Regional
A No. 5 RPI ranking, plus a high strength of schedule, kept Florida as a No. 8 national seed. The Gators still hold a series win over fellow top eight seed Tennessee and wins over Arkansas and FSU – two other potential supers hosts.
UF hasn’t lost a regional at home since 2012 and hold just two super regional losses under Tim Walton’s tenure – both to Georgia in 2016 and 2021.
Florida is looking to advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City for the third season in a row and 14th time in program history.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1 and on Instagram @Ramreporter.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida softball hosting NCAA Gainesville Regional as the No. 6 overall seed
Reporting by Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
