The Kentucky softball team was selected for the NCAA Tournament for the 16th consecutive season on Sunday.
The Wildcats are headed to the Clemson Regional as the No. 2 seed. They will battle No. 3 Northwestern on Friday at 2 p.m. ET.
Clemson will take on No. 4 USC upstate in the second game at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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Kentucky is one of a record-breaking 14 teams from the SEC to make the NCAA Tournament field.
Here is a press release from UK Athletics:
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the 16th-straight season under head coach Rachel Lawson, the Kentucky 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 [2pm ET, ESPN+]
Game 2 – (1) Clemson vs. (4) USC Upstate [4:30pm 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]
The Kentucky Softball Designated Players Club
The Designated Players is the Official Booster Program of Kentucky Softball. Financial contributions and community support through The Designated Players program, Kentucky Softball will be able to continue to develop our student-athletes on and off the field. To join The Designated Players, you can join online or click here to download the membership form and mail to the address listed. For more information, email Kristine Himes at kentuckysoftball@uky.edu or Larry Cash at Larry.Cash@uky.edu.
For the latest on UK Softball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKSoftball.
Rewriting the history books…
Over and over again.
https://t.co/02Jc4TifNI@NCAASoftball x #ItJustMeansMore pic.twitter.com/KnnF9EEbbv
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) May 12, 2025
The post Kentucky Softball Makes NCAA Tournament for 16th Straight Season first appeared on Nation of Blue.