TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – During the 2026 NCAA softball selection show on Sunday night, the teams from Florida State and Florida A&M each learned their fates in the tournament.
The Seminoles are the ninth overall seed and will host the Tallahassee Regional for the 12th straight year, while Rattlers have made the tournament for the first time since 2017 and will play in the Gainesville regional.
While Florida State was not awarded a top-8 seed, which wouldn’ve given the Seminoles an inside track to host the Super Regionals, head coach Lonni Alameda is confident in her team’s ability to advance in the tournament given how well they’ve been playing lately.
“I’m going to put my head on the pillow tonight knowing that we’re prepped for anything moving forward and don’t get caught up too much on who [the committee] has to figure out who they have to see and where the [teams] are going to go,” said Alameda. “It’s a good regional for us and we’re in a good spot and so we just want to move forward with that mindset. We answered the call that we needed to, to win the regular season and win the tournament so that gives us confidence moving forward into what we’re going to face this weekend.”
The Seminoles will kick off the double elimination Tallahassee Regional against Stetson on Friday at 12 p.m. Jacksonville State and UCF are the other two teams coming to town.
Florida A&M softball is fresh of their first ever SWAC championship and will play sixth-overall seed Florida to start tournament play.
For this program to get here, it’s a big deal. Now, they’re ready to show people what Florida A&M softball can do.
“I thought we competed well in the tournament and obviously facing Florida, an SEC opponent, is going to be tough but I think if we just play our game and play a competitive game, we can definitely keep it close,” said head coach Brittany Beall.
Senior Amari Brown spoke about how they can get the job done against the Gators.
“Just stay calm,” she said. “Play the game we have played all year and make sure we’re not making the moment too big. Just know that we know how to play ball, know how to play the game we play here at Florida A&M just taking that into next week and playing how we know how to play.”
First pitch between the Rattlers and Gators is set for 11 a.m. Friday. Texas State and Georgia Tech make up the other half of the double elimination regiona. They play at 1:30 p.m.
To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).
Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here. Please include the article’s headline in your message.
Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click here to get started.
Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.