Despite falling just short of winning their last Sun Belt Conference tournament title, Texas State softball’s (38-20) resume was enough to earn an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Tournament as they are headed to the Sunshine State to play in the Gainesville Regional, hosted by the No. 9 Florida Gators (48-10), beginning this upcoming weekend from May 15-17.

The Gainesville Regional will feature the Gators as the top seed and one of the second seeds nationally alongside the Bobcats, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (30-27) and Florida A&M Rattlers (32-20).

The Bobcats are the two seed in the Gainesville Regional and one of the seventh seeds overall in the tournament, where they are set to play against Georgia Tech this Friday, May 15 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The Gators will open the Regional against the Rattlers at 11 a.m.

The winner of the Gainesville Regional is set to play against the winner of the Lubbock Regional in the Super Regionals next weekend from May 21-24 at the highest seed of the regional winner, with the potential winner out of the Lubbock Regional being either Texas Tech (52-6), Ole Miss (34-24), Marist (37-19) or Boston University (46-13).

Texas State is headed to their first tournament appearance since 2024 and thirteenth overall in program history. This will be just the fourth time the Bobcats travelled out of state to begin their quest to Oklahoma City, having played in-state their last three trips. The last time they played out-of-state was in the Los Angeles Regional in 2018.

Opening pitch between the Bobcats and Yellow Jackets is set for 12:30 p.m. Friday, May 15 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. It will be available to stream on ESPN+.