NJCAA Bracket Reveal | Johnson County Preview | Pearl River Preview

CHARLOTTE, NC – 2026 NJCAA Region 6 Division 2 Softball and Plains District Tournament Champions Johnson County Community College has earned the number 12 seed in the upcoming NJCAA Division 2 Softball World Series, which will be held at Tyger River Park in Spartanburg, SC.

Making their third consecutive appearance in the NJCAA Division 2 Softball World Series, JCCC will open their 2026 National Tournament on Wednesday, May 20th, with an 11 AM (EDT) first pitch against the number five-seed Pearl River Community College. The Wildcats, winners of the Gulf “B” District, will enter the National Tournament with a 43-6 overall record in what will be their first NJCAA World Series berth in program history.

Wednesday’s game will mark only the second time in history that the Cavaliers and Wildcats will meet on the softball diamond after meeting in 2025 as part of the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Georgia, where PRCC earned an 11-10 victory over JCCC. In the contest played last season, Johnson County jumped out to a 7-1 lead before seeing Pearl River plate runs in each of the final six innings to take the high-scoring affair.

Offensively, Johnson County ranks among the best NJCAA Division 2 softball teams in multiple offensive categories, including batting average (second, .419), on-base percentage (fourth, .494), and slugging percentage (third, .687). The Cavaliers also rank in the top 20 nationally in doubles (133), extra-base hits (210), total bases (889), home runs (60), RBI (389), and hits (542). Eight starters for JCCC currently hold a batting average over .400, while the defensive side of play finds JCCC with a team ERA of 3.29 across 317 innings pitched. Able to turn to a pair of different dominant arms, JCCC has used both Kyleigh Whitehurst (19-4, 3.00 ERA) and Elsa Carillo (13-4 record, 3.64 ERA) to lead things on the defensive end.

Pearl River, meanwhile, will enter the tournament following a dominant stretch in the Gulf South District B tournament where the Wildcats defeated Northeast Mississippi Community College 10-2 in six innings, knocked off national tournament at-large berth qualifier and seven-seed Jones College 5-2, followed by another run-rule victory over Northeast Mississippi. PRCC also ranks among the nation’s best offensively, boasting a team slugging percentage of .604 (ninth) while hitting 64 home runs (13th), 164 extra-base hits (19th) to go along with 196 walks (15th) and a .371 batting average (25th).  

Other teams that Johnson County could potentially face on their side of the bracket include the number four seed Rock Valley College, the number 13 seed Northwest Mississippi Community College, and the number 20 seed Cecil College. The top half of the left side of the bracket includes number one overall seed Kirkwood Community College, number eight seed Pima College, ninth-seeded Des Moines Area Community College, number 16 seed Grand Rapids Community College, and number 17 seed Bryant & Stratton (Wisconsin).

 The winner of Wednesday’s Johnson County vs Pearl River game advances to play on Thursday at 2 PM (EDT) while the loser faces an 9 AM (EDT) elimination game on Thursday morning against the winner of a Tuesday elimination game between one of five potential foes (number one Kirkwood, number 15 Louisburg, number 16 Grand Rapids, number 17 Bryant & Stratton {Wisconsin}, and number 18 Cuyahoga. Wins by Johnson County will allow the Cavaliers to play just one game a day, while JCCC would be faced with multiple games each day once they fall into the elimination portion bracket.

All games of the 2026 NJCAA Division 2 Softball World Series will be streamed live on the NJCAA Network (https://www.njcaa.org/network/landing/index), with live statistics for all games also being offered. Fans wanting to follow along with all the action are encouraged to visit the 2026 NJCAA Division 2 Softball World Series page, which can be found at https://njcaachampionship.prestosports.com/sports/sball/div2/index.