It marks a 16th-straight berth for Rachel Lawson’s club.
For the 16th-straight season under head coach Rachel Lawson, the Kentucky Wildcats softball team was selected to compete in the NCAA Championship, as the Wildcats were selected as an at-large team out of the Southeastern Conference and will begin the march to the Women’s College World Series on Friday.
Kentucky will compete in the NCAA Clemson Regional, hosted by Clemson, who earned the No. 11 national seed in the tournament. Joining UK and Clemson are Northwestern and USC Upstate. Kentucky, who is the No. 2 seed in the region, will play third-seeded Northwestern at 2 p.m. ET on Friday to open the tournament on ESPN+. Clemson will follow at 4:30 p.m. ET and play USC Upstate.
The Wildcats being selected for 16-straight NCAA Tournaments is something only 11 other schools in the country have done the last 16 years as the Wildcats join Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, and Washington. UK head coach Rachel Lawson has guided the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament in all but one season as head coach, that being her first season in 2008.
The SEC had all 14 of its eligible teams selected for the NCAA Tournament, as the league set a new record for the most amount of teams chosen to participate in an NCAA Softball Tournament from one conference. Texas A&M earned the No. 1 overall seed in the championship and nine SEC schools were selected as regional host sites, with seven seeded as top-8 seeds, meaning they can host super regionals next weekend should they advance through regionals.
2025 NCAA Blacksburg Regional
Friday, May 16
- Game 1 – (2) Kentucky vs. (3) Northwestern [2 pm ET, ESPN+]
- Game 2 – (1) Clemson vs. (4) USC Upstate [4:30 pm ET, ESPN+]
Saturday, May 17
- Game 3 – Winner game 1 vs. Winner game 2
- Game 4 – Loser game 1 vs. Loser game 2 [elimination game]
- Game 5 – Loser game 3 vs. Winner game 4 [elimination game]
Sunday, May 18
- Game 6 – Winner game 3 vs. Winner game 5
- Game 7 (if necessary) – Loser game 6 vs. Winner game 6 [winner to super regionals]