National Championship
Register by February 15th and receive a $50 discount. The event fee will increase by $50 on February 16th, 2026
8A & 8B | 9A & 9B | 10A & 10B | 12A & 12B | 14A & 14B | 16A & 16B | 18A & 18B
July 14-19, 2026
O’Fallon/Edwardsville, IL
Tournament Format – Great Lakes/Midwest National Championships
The tournament is a 5-game guarantee format. Teams will be seeded into pools based on current USSSA power ranking and points. Teams will play 2 Pool Play Games and those games will seed you into a 3GG bracket that will crown a National Champion.
All teams are guaranteed to play 3 games in the bracket, in addition to your 2 pool games.
To guarantee your spot in the tournament, your team will need to complete the online entry process. All entries must be made through the www.usssa.com website. You will be required to submit your entry and payment online. At this point it will be subject to approval by your state director. Once approved, your entry will be considered complete for this National Championship Event. Official entry and payment deadlines can be found below.
Tournament Deadlines
Events Deadline of June 1st, 2026. Teams must be entered and paid in order to hold their spot. Teams may be moved to the waiting list, prior to the deadline, if not paid. If a team on the waiting list pays their entry fee prior to a team in the actual event, the team on the waiting list will be moved into the actual event and the last, unpaid team to enter the event will be moved to the waiting list. If a team is unpaid at the time of the deadline, they risk being moved to the waiting list.
Rosters
All team rosters must be on the USSSA website. All players participating in USSSA Fast Pitch youth tournament play shall have proof of age in possession of their team manager at all times. If a team is protested and a teams roster does not meet USSSA roster rules, the head coach and the illegal player (at a minimum) will be ejected from the event.
Proof of age must be verified by a government issued document that identifies the player by name, gender and birth date. Failure to produce a copy of such document upon demand will result in the offending team losing the game, being eliminated from the tournament, being placed last in the standings and forfeiting all awards, sponsor’s travel money and tournament berths that would have been awarded at the tournament.
All protests must be made by the head coach to the plate umpire. $200 in cash is required at the time of the protest.
Guest players must be added via the team manger page and must appear on the official team roster as a guest player.
Official Playing Rules
All playing rules shall be governed by the official USSSA Fastpitch softball rulebook and national by-laws. Note that the rulebook online at www.usssa.com will always supersede the latest printed version if a discrepancy exists.
Hotels
This event is a Stay to Play event. Book Your Hotel Here
Gift Exchange
There will be a non-mandatory team gift exchange during one of your pool play games. Teams wishing to participate should bring something that is representative of their home area, the value of which is not important. It is recommended that teams bring a minimum of 16 gifts to exchange. Please RSVP to [email protected] by your event’s entry deadline if you are interested in the Gift Exchange. Include Team Name, Age Group, Manager Name, and number of players on your team in the email RSVP.
Admission
We charge a team spectator gate fee of $575 for each team in place of the normal individual gate fee for spectators. By doing this, everyone can come and go as they please (no wristbands required) and not get stopped every time they enter the park. Invite grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends without worrying that they have to pay to watch their player. Ultimately, teams will save much more by paying a team gate fee vs an individual gate fee. This fee is in addition to the tournament entry fee and must be paid by June 1st, 2026. Gate fee can be paid via Venmo at Lori-Strode24.
Gate fees for Tournament
Each Team will be responsible for paying a $575 team gate fee.
National Championship Merchandise
USSSA National Championship apparel and souvenirs, will be sold at the Opening Ceremonies and throughout the tournament. As the event draws closer, there will be an opportunity to pre-order event merchandise. Coming Soon
Tentative Schedule
For a tentative tournament itinerary, [CLICK HERE].
The tournament schedule will be posted no later than July 6th. Because this event is seeded by points and power ranking, we have to wait for the results to be updated in the USSSA database before creating the schedule. The weekend of June 26th-28th, 2026 will be the last weekend considered for team points and power ranking. Therefore, if your team plays an event on July 3-5, those points/standings will not be calculated when determining your seed in the National Championship. Player, coach and other pre-tournament items will be distributed at the team check-in.
Note that all times are subject to change. Please verify itinerary during team check-in. Once the tournament begins, managers must check the main bracket board for any changes in game times, field assignments or other items related to tournament play or functions. Please encourage your families and fans to download the USSSA App on their smart device. All weather and/or tournament information will be communicated via the USSSA App.
Exact playing venues will not be designated until the schedule is released.
Register by February 15th and receive a $50 discount. The event fee will increase by $50 on February 16th, 2026