Kentucky will compete in the NCAA Clemson Regional, hosted by Clemson, who earned the No. 11 national seed in the tournament. Joining UK and Clemson are Northwestern and USC Upstate. Kentucky, who is the No. 2 seed in the regional, will play third-seeded Northwestern at 2 p.m. ET on Friday to open the tournament on ESPN+.
The Wildcats being selected for 16-straight NCAA Tournaments is something only 11 other schools in the country have done the last 16 years as the Wildcats join Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA and Washington. UK head coach Rachel Lawson has guided the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament in all but one season as head coach, that being her first season 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 S oftball 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.
2025 NCAA Blacksburg 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]