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LOS ANGELES, Calif. — 2026 Big West champion Cal State Fullerton Titans softball will represent The Big West and square off against South Carolina in the opening round of the 2026 NCAA Softball Championship on Friday, May 15 at 4:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. ET in the Los Angeles Regional at Easton Stadium in Westwood, Calif.
The Titans are slated to join host UCLA Bruins softball, South Carolina, and future Big West member California Baptist Lancers softball in the Los Angeles Regional. UCLA headlines the field with its 41st NCAA postseason appearance, while California Baptist will face the Bruins in its first-ever national tournament matchup on Friday at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET.
The NCAA Division I Softball Championship Subcommittee announced the 64-team field that will compete in the 2026 NCAA Division I Softball Championship. Thirty-one conferences were awarded an automatic qualification, while the remaining 33 positions were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket.
For the first year, the top 32 teams were seeded nationally in pods of four. Per the established bracketing principles, the top 16 seeds were provided the opportunity to host. Additionally, team pairings are determined within the pods (ones paired with eights, twos paired with sevens, threes paired with sixes, and fours paired with fives) and assigned geographically within their pods, with the exception that teams from the same conference are not paired at the same regional. Regionals will be held May 15-17, with each site hosting a four-team, double-elimination tournament
South Carolina enters with a 30-26 overall record and will make its 26th all-time NCAA postseason appearance, including its fourth consecutive berth. The Gamecocks are 54-54 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and have advanced to three Super Regionals and three Women’s College World Series appearances in program history. Head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard is in her second season leading the program after guiding South Carolina to a Super Regional host designation and a 44-17 record in 2025. The Gamecocks were one out away from reaching the Women’s College World Series last season before falling to the Bruins in Game 3 of the Columbia Super Regional.
Cal State Fullerton comes to the national postseason after capturing the 2026 Big West Championship title with a 1-0 victory over No. 3 seed UC Santa Barbara Gauchos softball in the championship final at Anderson Family Field in Fullerton, Calif. The Titans completed an undefeated run through the conference tournament and improved to 40-13 overall on the season. The Titans finished the regular season with a 24-3 mark in Big West play, the program’s most conference victories since 1993, while the 40 overall wins are the most for Cal State Fullerton since the 2016 campaign. The NCAA appearance marks the program’s 33rd all-time trip to the postseason and its first since the 2024 Stanford Regional, where the team bowed out in the Regional Final during legendary head coach Kelly Ford’s final game as the Titans’ skipper.
The Blue and Orange scored the lone run of the championship game in the third inning when Colby McClinton singled and later crossed the plate on a fielding error by the Gauchos’ second baseman after Ava Arce put the ball in play. The Titans totaled five hits in the victory, led by a two-hit effort from Alexia Lopez, while McClinton, Sarah Perez, and Jenica Silvas each added a hit. Leanna Garcia earned the victory in the circle to improve to 8-0 on the season and claim 2026 Big West Championship Most Valuable Player honors. Garcia tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing just two hits with three walks and one strikeout across seven innings. The right-hander retired the Gauchos in order through the first two innings and did not allow a runner past second base.
Garcia was one of six Titans named to the 2026 Big West All-Tournament Team, joined by Eva Hurtado, Trisha McCleskey, McClinton, Arce, and Perez. McClinton paced the Titans offensively throughout the tournament, batting .571 with four hits, two home runs, four RBI, and four runs scored. McCleskey also posted a 0.00 ERA during the championship run, earning a shutout victory over UC Davis in Thursday’s opening round.
The 16 winning teams will advance to the super-regional round. Super regionals for the championship will be held May 21-24 on eight campus sites. At each site, two teams play in a best-of-three tournament format. The winners from each super regional will advance to the NCAA Women’s College World Series from May 28-June 4/5 at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.
2026 NCAA Los Angeles Regional Schedule
Friday, May 15
Game 1: South Carolina vs. Cal State Fullerton at 4:30 p.m. (PT) – ESPN+
Game 2: UCLA vs. California Baptist at 7 p.m. (PT) – ESPN2
Saturday, May 16
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 at 2 p.m. (PT) (Broadcast TBD)
Game 4: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 at 4:30 p.m. (PT) (Broadcast TBD)
Game 5: Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3 at 7 p.m. (PT) (Broadcast TBD)
Sunday, May 17
Game 6: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5 at 4:30 p.m. (PT) (Broadcast TBD)
Game 7: Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6 (if necessary) at 7 p.m. (PT) (Broadcast TBD)