SoCon Softball Championship bracket set

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – UNCG is the SoCon regular-season champion and will be the No. 1 seed in the Southern Conference Softball Championship, which will be contested at Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from May 6-9.

All eight Southern Conference teams will participate in the tournament, with seeds 5 and 8 participating in a single-elimination game on Wednesday, May 6, at 10 a.m., and seeds 6 and 7 playing in a single-elimination game later that day at 1 p.m. for the right to advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket. The championship game will take place on Sunday, May 9, at 1 p.m., with a second game, if necessary, beginning 30 minutes after the completion of the first contest.

UNCG defeated Samford on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader to claim the top seed. The Spartans lead the league in ERA (2.24) and strikeouts (291), while placing second in hits (449), RBIs (294) and home runs (60).  

With the top seed, the Spartans earned a bye to Thursday’s action at the tournament and will take on either No. 4 seed Wofford, No. 5 seed Chattanooga or No. 8 seed Furman. UNCG took two of three games at Wofford on April 11-12 and won a pair of matchups with Chattanooga on April 25. The Spartans won two games against the Paladins on April 3.

Samford secured the No. 2 seed with a win over UNCG on Saturday in the squad’s second game of a doubleheader. After two straight seasons of being the No. 3 seed, the Bulldogs jumped up one spot in the rankings.

With the No. 2 seed, Samford earned a bye to Thursday’s action at the tournament and will face either No. 3 seed Western Carolina, No. 6 seed ETSU or No. 7 seed Mercer. The Bulldogs dropped two of three contests versus the Catamounts on April 11-12. Samford took two of three against ETSU on April 23-24, and Mercer on March 21-22.

Chattanooga and Furman closed out the regular season facing each other in a three-game series, which ended Sunday. The Mocs won each contest in the series. The two squads will face off Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the first game of the tournament.

ETSU takes on Mercer, the defending tournament champion, on Wednesday at 1 p.m. The Bucs and Bears completed a weekend series on Sunday, with ETSU taking two of the three games.

 
Wofford, the No. 4 seed for the second consecutive tournament, will play the winner of the Chattanooga and Furman at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Western Carolina comes into the tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Catamounts will face the winner of the ETSU and Mercer game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
 
2026 SoCon Softball Championship
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Wednesday, May 6
Game 1: No. 5 Chattanooga vs. No. 8 Furman, 10 a.m.
Game 2: No. 6 ETSU vs. No. 7 Mercer, 1 p.m.
Game 3: No. 4 Wofford vs. Game 1 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 4: No. 3 Western Carolina vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m.

 
Thursday, May 7
Game 5: No. 1 UNCG vs. Game 3 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 6: No. 2 Samford vs. Game 4 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 7: Game 4 loser vs. Game 5 loser, 4 p.m.
Game 8: Game 3 loser vs. Game 6 loser, 7 p.m.
 
Friday, May 8
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 winner vs. Game 9 loser, 4 p.m.
 
Saturday, May 9
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 11 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 13 (if necessary): Game 12 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 4 p.m.