NCAA softball top 25 rankings entering SEC, ACC, Big Ten tournaments

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Conference tournament week in the 2026 NCAA softball season is officially here. The regular season ended over the weekend with two Power 4 conference races coming down to the final day.

The SEC race was decided on Saturday when the Oklahoma Sooners edged the Alabama Crimson Tide atop the standings. Oklahoma swept a doubleheader at Texas A&M to earn its second straight outright regular-season title since the Sooners joined the SEC.

Alabama earned its fourth SEC series sweep this season by defeating South Carolina in three hard-fought games at Rhoads Stadium. The Crimson Tide will head to the SEC Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky, as the No. 2 seed. The Florida Gators and Texas Longhorns also earned top-4 seeds and double byes at the SEC’s tournament.

The ACC race came down to the final weekend, as well. The Florida State Seminoles clinched the regular-season title by wrapping up a sweep of Boston College on Sunday. Florida State has nine straight wins in conference play and finished one game ahead of the Duke Blue Devils in the ACC standings.

In the Big Ten, the Nebraska Cornhuskers continued to steamroll anyone in their path after a three-game sweep at Penn State on Sunday. The Huskers have won 16 straight entering the Big Ten tournament, which includes five consecutive weekend sweeps in league play.

Nebraska was 23-1 against Big Ten foes in the regular season, the best record by any Power 4 champion in conference play. They finished a comfortable three games ahead of both Oregon and UCLA in the standings.

Things weren’t quite as dramatic in the Big 12 as the SEC and ACC, either. Texas Tech used a pair of shutouts to take two of three from Baylor and finished a full five games ahead of second-place Oklahoma State and Arizona.

The SEC Tournament is May 5-9 in Lexington. The Big Ten tournament is May 6-9 in College Park, Maryland. The Big 12 tournament is May 7-9 at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, site of the Women’s College World Series. The ACC tournament is May 6-9 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Softball America top 25 rankings: new top-5 reshuffle entering SEC tournament

In Monday’s new Softball America top 25 rankings, Oklahoma (48-7) held on to the top spot for the second straight week, followed by Nebraska (43-6).

Despite sweeping a top-25 South Carolina team over the weekend, Alabama (47-6) fell one spot to No. 4. The Crimson Tide scored just eight runs in 21 innings against the Gamecocks, but pitchers Jocelyn Briski and Vic Moten held South Carolina to five runs in the three games.

Texas Tech (50-5) jumped past Alabama to No. 3 in Softball America’s rankings. The Red Raiders closed the regular season by winning eight of their final nine games. They clinched their second straight Big 12 regular-season championship a week earlier.

Elsewhere near the top of the rankings, a new team entered the top five: the Arkansas Razorbacks (41-10). Arkansas rose two spots to No. 5 after taking two of three from a top-five Texas Longhorns team.

Here’s a look at the full top 25 rankings from Softball America on May 4.

Rank Team Record Last Week
1 Oklahoma 48–7 1
2 Nebraska 43–6 2
3 Texas Tech 50–5 4
4 Alabama 47–6 3
5 Arkansas 41–10 7
6 Tennessee 42–9 11
7 Florida State 46–8 8
8 Texas 30–19 6
9 Oregon 40–11 13
10 UCLA 45–7 5
11 Duke 38–13 10
12 Florida 47–9 9
13 Oklahoma State 37–14 12
14 Georgia 36–17 15
15 Stanford 36–12 16
16 Texas A&M 36–16 14
17 LSU 37–16 19
18 Virginia Tech 44–9 17
19 Mississippi State 37–17 18
20 Louisville 43–11 22
21 UCF 38–15–1 23
22 Clemson 32–19 24
23 South Carolina 30–25 21
24 Arizona 35–16 20
25 Indiana 41–13 NR

Alabama softball schedule 2026: Who do Crimson Tide play at SEC Tournament?

Alabama begins SEC Tournament play on Thursday at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington. The Crimson Tide will face either Arkansas, Mississippi State or Kentucky. First pitch for Alabama’s game is tentatively set for 1 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

Here’s a look at Alabama’s 2026 SEC softball schedule with final scores and scheduled start times. All times Central.

  • March 6-8: at Ole Miss (W, 5-3; W, 13-2; W, 2-1)
  • March 13-15: vs. Arkansas (W, 4-1; L, 14-9; W, 4-1)
  • March 20-22: at Missouri (W, 2-1; L, 5-2; W, 7-4)
  • April 2-4: vs. Texas (L, 9-1; W, 11-4; W, 7-4)
  • April 10-12: at Auburn (W, 1-0; W, 4-0; W, 9-1)
  • April 17-19: vs. Kentucky (W, 9-0, W, 5-4; W, 4-0)
  • April 25-27: at Tennessee (W, 12-0; L, 2-0; L, 4-1)
  • April 30-May 2: vs. South Carolina (W, 3-2; W, 1-0; W, 4-3)
  • May 7: vs. Arkansas or Mississippi State or Kentucky at SEC Tournament, 1 p.m.

Record: 47-6 overall, 19-5 conference.

SEC Softball Tournament 2026: bracket, seeding, games, start times, TV info

Oklahoma is the No. 1 seed in the 2026 SEC Tournament, followed by No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Florida and No. 4 Texas. Here’s a look at scheduled start times for the SEC Tournament, from first-round games to the conference championship game.

All start times Central.

First-round games, Tuesday, May 6

  • Game 1: No. 14 Auburn vs. No. 11 Missouri, noon CT
  • Game 2: No. 15 Kentucky vs. No. 10 Mississippi State, 3 p.m.
  • Game 3: No. 13 Ole Miss vs. No. 12 South Carolina, 6 p.m.

All first-round games can be seen on SEC Network.

Second-round games, Wednesday, May 7

  • Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. No. 6 Texas A&M, 10 a.m.
  • Game 5: Game 2 winner vs. No. 7 Arkansas, 1 p.m.
  • Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Tennessee, 4 p.m.
  • Game 7: No. 9 Georgia vs. No. 8 LSU, 7 p.m.

All second-round games can be seen on SEC Network.

Quarterfinals, Thursday, May 8

  • Game 8: Game 4 winner vs. No. 3 Florida, 10 a.m.
  • Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. No. 2 Alabama, 1 p.m.
  • Game 10: Game 6 winner vs. No. 4 Texas, 4 p.m.
  • Game 11: Game 7 winner vs. No. 1 Oklahoma, 7 p.m.

All quarterfinal round games can be seen on SEC Network.

Semifinals, Friday, May 9

  • Game 12: Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 9, 4 p.m.
  • Game 13: Winner of Game 10 vs. Winner of Game 11, 6:30 p.m.

Semifinal round games can be seen on ESPN.

SEC Championship Game, Saturday, May 10

  • Game 14: Winner of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 13, 4 p.m.

The SEC Tournament championship game can be seen on ESPN.

Follow us at @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook, for ongoing coverage of Alabama Crimson Tide news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Alabama softball sweeps, moves in new NCAA softball top 25 rankings

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