Takeaways from NCAA softball tournament bracket reveal: One conference dominates

The road to Oklahoma City for 64 teams begins this Friday with the 2025 NCAA softball tournament set to get underway. The bracket for this year’s field was unveiled Sunday night and a few things about this year’s tournament are clear.

For starters, the SEC is far and away the best conference in this sport as 14 of the league’s 15 teams made the field.

Perhaps more importantly and impressively, seven of the top eight seeds in the tournament went to teams in the SEC, with the lone outlier being No. 5 Florida State. The Seminoles were one of nine ACC teams to make the field, but just one of three that will host opening weekend games, joining No. 14 Duke and No. 11 Clemson.

That means that should the regional round go chalk, seven of the eight Super Regional sites will be played on SEC campuses, which could lead to an SEC-heavy College World Series.

Texas A&M was granted the No. 1 overall seed despite never playing against No. 2 seed — and four-time reigning national champs — Oklahoma this season. Softball fans were robbed of what would’ve been a matchup between the Sooners and the Aggies this past weekend in Athens, Ga. as the SEC Championship game was rained out. Texas A&M does have a strong case for the No. 1 seed though, as they have 19 top 25 wins, which is the most in the country. The Aggies also notched victories over strong non-conference foes like Florida State and Texas Tech.

South Carolina grabbed the final top-eight seed, securing Super Regional hosting rights should the Gamecocks advance that far. South Carolina is having an incredibly memorable season under first-year coach Ashley Chastain Woodard and won 40 games despite being picked to finish last in the SEC this season. It’ll be the first time since 2018 that the Gamecocks are hosting a regional, which was also the last time they advanced to a Super Regional.

“When you look at South Carolina, they have 17 top 25 wins and that was key in that area,” NCAA softball committee chair Kurt McGuffin told ESPN. “They went and challenged themselves all year. Six of those top 25 wins were out of conference, so we like to see teams where the nonconference and conference schedule is really challenging.”

Should the Gamecocks get to the second weekend of the tournament, they could face a UCLA team with something to prove. The Bruins were handed the No. 9 seed after a 49-10 season, and this postseason marks the first time since 2016 that UCLA hasn’t been a top-eight seed. The Bruins are a powerhouse in college softball, with eight World Series bids since 2015.

Alabama was the final SEC team to grab a national seed, getting slotted 15th to host an opening-weekend regional. It’s the 20th consecutive season the Crimson Tide have gotten a top-16 seed in the tournament. They have a challenging regional pod though that includes a pair of 40-win teams in Virginia Tech and Belmont. The Hokies and Tide met in February, splitting two games in Tuscaloosa.

Meanwhile, Belmont is armed with one of the top pitchers in the country in Maya Johnson, who leads the nation in strikeouts with 343. Belmont faces Virginia Tech at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday on ESPN+.

Other intriguing regional matchups include one between North Carolina and Ohio State in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, the Tar Heels are led by the nation’s leader in RBIs in Kat Rodriguez, while the Buckeyes have arguably the most explosive offense in the country as they lead the sport in home runs with 137.

UNC and Ohio State will meet at 4 p.m. ET on Friday on ESPNU. The winner between the Tar Heels and the Buckeyes is likely to face Tennessee and SEC Pitcher of the Year Karlyn Pickens, who is second nationally in ERA with a 0.92 mark.