The UCLA softball team was selected as the No. 8 national seed for the 2026 NCAA Tournament and will host Regionals at Easton Stadium for the twelfth consecutive season from May 15 to May 17, according to a May 10 announcement by UCLA Athletics.
This selection marks UCLA’s record forty-first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Los Angeles Regional will feature UCLA competing against South Carolina, Cal State Fullerton, and California Baptist. Gates at Easton Stadium are set to open ninety minutes before first pitch each day.
The Bruins’ opening game is scheduled for Friday, May 15, against Western Athletic Conference champion California Baptist at 7 p.m. Pacific Time on ESPN2. All tournament games will be broadcast on the ESPN Family of Networks. Tickets for the regional go on sale Monday, May 11 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
UCLA enters postseason play after finishing second in the Big Ten Tournament Championship on Saturday, May 9, following a loss to Nebraska in the title game. During the regular season, UCLA led all programs nationally in home runs (182), on-base percentage (.495), slugging percentage (.835), and runs per game (10.80). Eight different players achieved double-digit home run totals—a program record.
Key contributors include Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery, both named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top-25 Finalists for a second straight year. Grant broke the NCAA Division I single-season home run record with thirty-eight this year while Woolery became just the fifth player in Division I history with over one hundred RBIs in a campaign; they are also noted as being “the first pair of teammates to hit thirty or more home runs in a single season.” In pitching, Taylor Tinsley leads with one hundred eighty-five and two-thirds innings pitched this season—ranking second nationally with twenty-eight victories—and tops her conference with twenty complete games.
