HAMMOND, La. – The 2026 Southland Conference regular champion Southeastern Louisiana University softball team will compete in the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional, the NCAA announced on Sunday's Selection Show.
 
Southeastern (46-14) will be making its third consecutive appearance in regional play and its first as an at-large selection. The Lions are the first Southland Conference school to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament since former league member Texas State in 2003.
 
SLU, which is the No. 2 seed in the regional, will face Belmont (40-11) at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the second game of the Tuscaloosa Regional, which also includes host and No. 1 overall seed Alabama (49-7) and USC Upstate (36-21), who will open the day's action at noon Friday.  
 
Fresh off the first regular season conference championship in program history, Southeastern will return to the national postseason after making an impression in its first two appearances, advancing to the finals of the 2024 Tuscaloosa and 2025 Baton Rouge Regionals.
 
SLU, which is ranked 37 in RPI, currently leads the nation in stolen bases, triples and triples per game, while also ranking among the Division I top 20 in ERA, batting average, hits, hits allowed per seven innings, stolen bases, stolen bases per game, sacrifice bunts, WHIP and won-loss percentage.
 
Friday's regional opener versus the Bruins will be televised on ESPN+.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Softball, follow @LionUpSoftball on X and Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook.
 
HOME RUN CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the softball program are encouraged to join the Home Run Club. Lady Lion softball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Home Run Club and S Club (softball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern softball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern offers mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
 
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has a clear bag policy for all ticketed events. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.