Kentucky softball earns 16th-consecutive NCAA Tournament bid

Even in a relatively down year for Kentucky softball, the Wildcats have plenty to celebrate under veteran coach Rachel Lawson — who has now led the program to 16 consecutive NCAA Tournament selections.

Despite losing in the first round of the SEC Tournament to enter the Big Dance with an underwhelming 29-26 record and 7-17 in league play, the NCAA Tournament committee believed in the Cats enough for an at-large bid as the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Clemson Regional. They will begin their run to the Women’s College World Series on Friday.

Dust off your shoes, #BBN … THE CATS ARE GOING DANCING!!!! 💃💃💃#WeAreUK x @NCAASoftball pic.twitter.com/yK0FCcHZBz

— Kentucky Softball (@UKsoftball) May 11, 2025

They’ll head to Clemson, the No. 11 national seed in the tournament, where they’ll be joined by the Tigers, Northwestern and USC Upstate. Kentucky will take on No. 3 seed Northwestern at 2 PM ET on Friday to open the event on ESPN+.

Lawson has led the Wildcats to 16 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, something only 11 other schools in the country have done, joined only by Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA and Washington. She’s helped the program punch a ticket in all but one season as head coach — her first at Kentucky in 2008.

The SEC had all 14 of its eligible teams selected for the NCAA Tournament, as the league set a new record for the most amount of teams chosen to participate in an NCAA Softball Tournament. Texas A&M earned the No. 1 overall seed in the championship and nine SEC schools were selected as regional host sites, with seven seeded as top-8 seeds, meaning they can host super regionals next weekend should they advance through regionals.

Check out the schedule in Clemson as the Wildcats look to brush off some ups and downs of 2025 and make a postseason run:

2025 NCAA Clemson Regional

Friday, May 16

Game 1 – (2) Kentucky vs. (3) Northwestern [2pm ET, ESPN+]

Game 2 – (1) Clemson vs. (4) USC Upstate [4:30pm ET, ESPN+]

Saturday, May 17

Game 3 – Winner game 1 vs. Winner game 2

Game 4 – Loser game 1 vs. Loser game 2 [elimination game]

Game 5 – Loser game 3 vs. Winner game 4 [elimination game]

Sunday, May 18

Game 6 – Winner game 3 vs. Winner game 5

Game 7 (if necessary) – Loser game 6 vs. Winner game 6 [winner to super regionals]

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The full NCAA Tournament bracket can be found below:

Time to make a run, Cats.