Back-to-back national champion Texas stands alone as the No. 1 team in the final NFCA/GoRout Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll of the 2026 season.

The Longhorns (53-12) are the first team in 2026 to receive all 31 first-place votes and also the last team after winning the national title last year.

After sweeping through regionals, Texas’s road to the national championship was a little bit tougher, dropping both its Super Regional and Women’s College World Series openers.

However, the Longhorns persevered, winning games two and three against Arizona State to advance to Oklahoma City. After a 6-3 defeat to Tennessee, Texas rattled off six straight wins, including two against the Lady Vols in the semifinals.

They also found themselves trailing 1-0 and being no-hit against Nebraska with one out into the sixth, only to rally for a 3-1 win.

Texas, which secured its third straight 50-win season, also fell behind 1-0 in both games of the Championship Series, a rematch versus Texas Tech, only to fight back for 7-3 and 4-1 victories. With the title, the Longhorns became the fifth team to win it all after losing the opening game of the WCWS.

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Texas Tech Finishes No. 2 & Sets School Record for Wins

The national runner-up Red Raiders (61-10) come in at No. 2 for the second consecutive season.

After an 8-0 win in their WCWS opener against Mississippi State, Texas Tech was edged 2-1 in nine innings by Tennessee. They bounced back with a nine-inning victory over UCLA and two versus Alabama in the semifinals.

The 11^th-seeded Red Raiders won a school-record 61 games and finished the postseason with a 9-4 mark. They swept the Lubbock Regional and knocked off No. 6 seed Florida over three games in Gainesville to advance to their second straight WCWS.

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The Rest of the Top 10

National semifinalists Alabama (56-9) and Tennessee (49-12) finish at No. 3 and No. 4. Both programs won their first seven games of the postseason before being upended twice in the semifinals at the WCWS.

WCWS participants No. 5 Nebraska, No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Arkansas and No. 10 Mississippi State, along with Super Regional participant No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 9 Florida make up the rest of the top 10.

The Huskers (52-8) and Bruins (53-10) each won one game in Oklahoma City with Nebraska playing in its first WCWS since 2013, while the Bruins were in their record 34^th.

The Huskers rode a program-record 27-game win streak into their second WCWS game before falling to Alabama, while UCLA had a historic offensive season, which included NCAA single-season records for home runs (209), runs scored (672), RBI (643), total bases (1,408) and extra-base hits (234). 

WCWS debutantes Arkansas, as the No. 5 overall seed, and Mississippi State each swept through Regionals. The Razorbacks (47-13) continued on with a sweep of No. 12 Duke in the Super Regional, while the Bulldogs (43-21) upset No. 3 seed Oklahoma in Norman over three games.

No new teams made their way into the top 25, but Arizona State made the second-biggest jump in the rankings, climbing five spots to No. 14 after their run to Super Regionals.

The 2026 NFCA/GoRout Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 31 NCAA Division I head coaches with one representing each of the NCAA’s Division I Conferences. Records reflect games played through June 5.

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2026 NFCA/GoRout Division I Top 25 Softball Coaches Poll

Final: June 9, 2026

Receiving Votes: Belmont (19), Ole Miss (13), USF (7), Clemson (3), South Carolina (3), Southeastern Louisiana (1).

The 2026 NFCA/GoRout Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 31 NCAA Division I head coaches with one representing each of the NCAA’s Division I Conferences. Records reflect games played through June 4.

NFCA DI Top 25 Poll Committee

The NFCA is the professional organization for fastpitch softball coaches. Known for its highly-regarded coaches polls and All-America awards, the NFCA also educates and supports softball coaches on a variety of different levels: from podcasts to awards, to in-person events and National Convention.