FRISCO, Texas — The Southland Conference made history Sunday evening, securing multiple bids to the 2026 NCAA Division I Softball Championship. Southland Tournament Champion McNeese went into Selection Sunday with the conference's automatic bid and Southland Regular Season Champion Southeastern earned an at-large bid. 

This season, the Southland finished as the 10th ranked conference in the NCAA's Conference RPI Rankings. Southeastern and McNeese led this camaign, finishing the year as the only two teams in the top 50 of the RPI. The two programs are among the six programs in the nation with 40 or more wins in each of the last five seasons. 

McNeese and Southeastern's inclusion in the 64-team field marks the first time in the modern era that the Southland saw two of its teams reach the NCAA Regional Round in the same season. This is the first time two Southland teams have made the NCAA postseason since 1997 when ULM and Nicholls qualified for the field. 

Southeastern heads to the Tuscaloosa Regional, earning a top 32 placement in the process. The Lions will face Belmont on Friday, 15, at 2:30 p.m with the tournament's top seed, Alabama, hosting the weekend's action. Southeastern finished the season at 37 in the RPI after clinching the program's first ever Southland Regular Season Title this season. 

McNeese won its 10th conference tournament title Saturday evening in Lake Charles and will head to the Bryan-College Station Regional where Texas A&M is set to host the action this weekend. The Cowgirls' first test comes against Arizona State on Friday, May 15 at 3:30 p.m.