The SEC Softball Tournament (sometimes known simply as the SEC Tournament) is the conference championship tournament in college softball

College softball

College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is normally played by men.As with other intercollegiate...

 for the Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 (SEC). It is a single-elimination (since 2006) tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament

NCAA Division I Softball Championship

The NCAA Division I Softball Championship tournament is held each year in June and features 64 college softball teams in the United States, culminating in the Women's College World Series , which is played in Oklahoma City....

.

Tournament

The SEC Softball tournament is a single-elimination tournament

Single-elimination tournament

A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...

 held each year at various SEC-conference campus stadiums. Eight of the 11 teams in the SEC make the tournament each year (Vanderbilt does not sponsor a softball team).

History

The tournament has been held since 1997, when the SEC began sponsoring softball. In 1997 it was an eight-team, double-elimination tournament with byes for the top two seeds. From 1998 until 2005 it was an eight-team, double-elimination tournament with no byes. In 2006 it became an eight-team, single-elimination tournament and it remains that way today.

Year-by-year

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! School
! Venue
|-
| 1997
| South Carolina
| Columbus, Georgia

Columbus, Georgia

Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...

|-
| 1998
| Alabama
| Columbus, Georgia

Columbus, Georgia

Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...

|-
| 1999
| LSU
| Columbus, Georgia

Columbus, Georgia

Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...

|-
| 2000
| South Carolina
| Columbus, Georgia

Columbus, Georgia

Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...

|-
| 2001
| LSU
| Jim Frost Stadium, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

|-
| 2002
| LSU
| Jim Frost Stadium, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

|-
| 2003
| Alabama
| Plant City Stadium

Plant City Stadium

Plant City Stadium is a stadium in Plant City, Florida. It is primarily used for softball and was the spring training home of Cincinnati Reds prior to moving to Ed Smith Stadium in 1998. The ballpark has a capacity of 6,000 people and opened in 1988....

, Plant City, Florida

Plant City, Florida

Plant City is a city in Hillsborough County, Florida, in the United States, approximately midway between Brandon and Lakeland along Interstate 4. The population was 34,721 at the 2010 census....

|-
| 2004

2004 SEC Softball Tournament

The 2004 SEC Softball Tournament was held at the University of Alabama Softball Stadium on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama from May 13 through May 16, 2004. LSU won the tournament and earned the Southeastern Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA...

| LSU
| University of Alabama Softball Stadium

University of Alabama Softball Stadium

The John and Ann Rhoads Softball Complex is a softball stadium located on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It serves as the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide softball team and is located on the corner of 5th Ave and Campus Drive on the northeast corner of campus...

, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...

|-
| 2005
| Alabama
| Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium

Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium

The Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium is the home field for the Florida Gators softball team: it is on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.-History:...

, Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...

|-
| 2006

2006 SEC Softball Tournament

The 2006 SEC Softball Tournament was held at the Georgia Softball Stadium on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia from May 11 through May 13, 2006...

| Tennessee
| Georgia Softball Stadium, Athens, Georgia

Athens, Georgia

Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...

|-
| 2007

2007 SEC Softball Tournament

The 2007 SEC Softball Tournament was held at Jane B. Moore Field on the campus of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama from May 10 through May 12, 2007. LSU won the tournament and earned the Southeastern Conference's automatic bid to the 2007 NCAA Tournament....

| LSU
| Jane B. Moore Field, Auburn, Alabama

Auburn, Alabama

Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama with a 2010 population of 53,380. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area...

|-
| 2008

2008 SEC Softball Tournament

The 2008 SEC Softball Tournament was held at Tiger Park on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from May 8 through May 10, 2008. Florida won the tournament and earned the Southeastern Conference's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division I Softball...

| Florida
| Tiger Park

Tiger Park

Tiger Park is a softball stadium located on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It serves as the home field of the LSU Tigers softball team and is located on Skip Bertman Drive across from the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. The official capacity of the stadium...

, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

|-
| 2009

2009 SEC Softball Tournament

The 2009 SEC Softball Tournament will be held at Sherri Parker Lee Softball Stadium on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee on May 7 through May 9, 2009. The Florida Gators won the 2008 tournament and are the 2009 regular season conference champion...

| Florida
| Sherri Parker Lee Softball Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

|-
| 2010

2010 SEC Softball Tournament

The 2010 SEC Softball Tournament was held at Bogle Park on the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas on May 13 through May 15, 2010...

| Alabama

2010 Alabama Crimson Tide softball season

The 2010 Alabama Crimson Tide softball team was an American softball team, representing the University of Alabama for the 2010 NCAA softball season. The Crimson Tide played its home games at the Alabama Softball Complex. The 2010 club made the postseason for the 12th straight year.-Previous...

| Bogle Park, Fayetteville, Arkansas

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...

|-
| 2011

2011 SEC Softball Tournament

The 2011 SEC Softball Tournament was held at the Ole Miss Softball Complex on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi on May 12 through May 14, 2011. The winner of the tournament received the conference's automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament...

| Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

| Ole Miss Softball Complex, Oxford, Mississippi

Oxford, Mississippi

Oxford is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1835, it was named after the British university city of Oxford in hopes of having the state university located there, which it did successfully attract....

|-

By school

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! School
! Championships
! Years
|-
| LSU
| 5
| 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007
|-
| Alabama
| 4
| 1998, 2003, 2005, 2010
|-
| Florida
| 2
| 2008, 2009
|-
| South Carolina
| 2
| 1997, 2000
|-
| Tennessee
| 2
| 2006,2011
|-
| Ole Miss
| 0
|
|-
| Mississippi State
| 0
|
|-
| Auburn
| 0
|
|-
| Kentucky
| 0
|
|-
| Arkansas
| 0
|
|-
| Georgia
| 0
|
|}