15-Team Sec Softball Tournament Starts May 5 at John Cropp Stadium

The sec softball tournament begins Tuesday, May 5, with 15 teams in a single-elimination bracket at John Cropp Stadium in Kentucky. The field runs through Saturday, May 9, and the winner gets an automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA softball tournament.

John Cropp Stadium Opens the Bracket

That format puts every game under immediate pressure. One loss ends the season for each of the 15 teams, and the schedule leaves no room for recovery once play starts in Kentucky.

Sofie Davis detailed the bracket and schedule for the event. The tournament runs from a six-team, double-elimination setup that began in 1997 to the current 15-team field that arrived in 2025 after Oklahoma and Texas joined the conference.

SEC Titles and 2025 Weather

Alabama enters the tournament record with the most SEC titles, at six. That mark sits over a field that now includes more of the conference than the league had when the event started.

The 2025 tournament ended without a championship game because inclement weather stopped play at Jack Turner Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Texas A&M and Oklahoma were declared co-champions, and Oklahoma received the automatic bid as the regular-season champion because no game was played.

May 9 at Kentucky

This year's tournament closes on Saturday, May 9, with a champion crowned at John Cropp Stadium. For teams chasing the SEC title and the league's NCAA berth, the bracket leaves no margin for a slow start.