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Wrap-Up of Major Conference Final Regular-Season Standings (2026)

Regular-season conference play is over, with conference tournaments beginning this coming week. 

In reviewing final conference standings, let's start with the deepest conference, the SEC. National No. 1 Oklahoma took two of three at Texas A&M this weekend to finish 20-4 in league play (48-7 overall) and edge out national No. 3 Alabama (19-5, 47-6) for the SEC regular-season title. The Crimson Tide swept South Carolina to close out its conference schedule. Florida (17-7, 47-9) came in third. Behind the Gators was a three-way tie for fourth, fifth, and sixth, with Tennessee, Texas, and Texas A&M each finishing at 16-8. As some readers may recall, the defending Women's College World Series champion Longhorns began the season 31-1 overall, before experiencing the brutality of SEC competition. Texas finished the season 39-10, meaning the Horns went 8-9 in their final 17 games.

A big story for the Sooners this season is the slugging of catcher Kendall Wells, who is in only her first year of college. As shown in the following graph, Wells has 36 homers heading into the postseason.

She has already shattered the single-season homer record for first-years, 30, shared previously by OU's Lauren Chamberlain and Jocelyn Alo, and Hawaii's Kelly Majam, and the OU single-season record (regardless of year in school) of 34, held by Alo.

Next on Wells's to-do list is the NCAA single-season home run record of 37, set by Laura Espinoza of Arizona in 1995.

Over in the Big 12, last year's WCWS runner-up Texas Tech (21-3, 50-5) easily won the regular-season championship, with the No. 4 Red Raiders finishing five games ahead of Oklahoma State (16-8, 37-14) abd Arizona (16-8, 35-15). Tech's NiJaree Canady pitched a five-inning (run-rule) perfect game on Saturday over Baylor to close out the conference season. OSU scored late-season non-conference wins over Oklahoma on April 15 and Texas on April 22, so the Cowgirls appear to be heading into the Big 12 with some momentum (Texas Tech and Oklahoma State did not meet in conference play as, even with five of the Big 12's 16 schools not fielding softball teams, there are still too many teams for everybody to play each other).

In the Big 10, No. 2 Nebraska finished atop the standings at 23-1 (43-6), beating out the likes of Oregon and UCLA (each 20-4). Husker pitcher Jordy Frahm compiled an excellent WHIP of .88 (100 hits + 22 walks, all divided by 138.67 innings) this season and also, on the offensive side, has an active 37-game on-base streak going. For comparison, Canady has a .79 WHIP and her Texas Tech teammate Kaitlyn Terry has a .80.

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