KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the 48-team field for the 45th annual NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round on Wednesday evening. The field for 2026 includes 29 automatic qualifiers, who either punched their ticket by winning their conference regular season or conference tournament, or by being a conference tournament runner-up in their respective conference. Four teams punched their ticket to the opening round, earning a host-at-large berth. At the same time, the remaining 15 spots in the field were filled by the softball national selection committee, comprised of head coaches and administrators from around the country.
The Cascade Conference will send five teams to the national tournament. Southern Oregon earned an automatic berth as the tournament champion, while regular season champion Oregon Tech received a host at-large bid. Eastern Oregon, College of Idaho, and British Columbia also secured at-large selections.
Six teams are making their first opening-round appearance in 2026: Benedictine (Kan.), Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.), Dillard (La.), Dordt (Iowa), Oakland City (Ind.), and Saint Francis (Ind.). On the other side of first appearances for teams in 2026, Oklahoma City is making its 13th opening round appearance, the best mark among the field of 48.
Twenty-nine teams return to the opening round for back-to-back years. Williams Baptist (Ark.), and Tennessee Southern, making an appearance again after a 10-year hiatus.
Oklahoma City leads the field with nine opening-round titles across its 13 appearances. At the same time, 26 other teams have also secured at least one opening-round title, including six from the defending national champion Southern Oregon.
Teams looking to punch one of ten tickets to Columbus for the NAIA Softball World Series have a battle in front of them as the combined overall winning percentage of the field sits at .722 percent, or a combined overall record of 1,744-671. There are 14 teams with 40 or more wins on the season; only eight of those teams have dropped nine or fewer games this season.
The Cascade and Southern States lead the way with five teams each into the opening rounds.
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Opening Round Schedule
Watch the 2026 Selection Show