COLBY, Kan. – Finishing the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Division 1 softball regular season with a 27-5 conference record, the Hutchinson Community College softball team clinched its second-straight KJCCC Division 1 Softball regular season title to earn the number one overall seed in the upcoming NJCAA Division 1 Softball Plains District Tournament.  

After earning a share of the KJCCC D1 softball regular season crown last season and finishing their year in the Plains District Tournament, Hutchinson earned an outright crown this season after finishing one game ahead of the preseason favorite and reigning NJCAA Division 1 Softball Plains District Tournament champion Butler Community College. The championship for Hutchinson is the sixth in program history, and third in the past four years.  

Two years removed from their first NJCAA Softball World Series win in program history, the Blue Dragons are looking for just their second NJCAA Region 6 title since 1987, as HCC will open the Plains District Tournament at 12 PM on Friday, May 8th, as the top overall seed when they take on the number eight seed Pratt for the third time in the past five games. Other teams that qualified for the NJCAA Division 1 Softball Plains District Tournament include number two seed Butler, number three seed Dodge City, number four seed Colby, number five seed Barton, number six seed Garden City, and number seven seed Seward County.

In addition to the Hutchinson/Pratt game at 12 PM on Friday to kick off the tournament, the number four seed Colby and the number five seed Barton will also face off in an opening round game at 12 PM at Legends Park in Dodge City. Following the opening two games of the tournament, number two seed Butler will face off with number seven seed Seward County, and number three seed Dodge City will take on number six seed Garden City in games that are set to begin at 2 PM. Four more games will take place across the opening day of action in Dodge City as elimination winners of the first two games of the day will face off at 4 PM alongside the losers of the opening two games, while the winners of games three and four will face off at 6 PM at the same time as the losers of games three and four in an elimination game. Following the opening day of action, all games will be played on one field with Saturday’s schedule set for a 12 PM start for four games of action, while Sunday will feature two games beginning at 12 PM. If the tournament were sent to a winner-take-all game 15, it would be played on Monday afternoon at 12 PM.

All games of the 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Softball Plains District Tournament will be streamed live on the KJCCC Sports Network, with live statistics also being made available throughout the tournament. Fans are encouraged to check out the KJCCC’s tournament webpage, which has links for live video, live statistics, tournament bracket, tournament program, and cumulative tournament statistics. Updates will be made to the webpage as the tournament progresses, which can be found here: 2026 NJCAA Division 1 Softball Plains District Tournament