Iowa High School State Softball Tournament Format Revealed

Event will switch to double-elimination in Summer 2026

Van Meter players celebrate after defeating East Marshall during the 2025 Iowa high school state softball tournament at Harlan Rogers Sports Complex on July 22, 2025, in Fort Dodge. / Lily Smith/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With the decision to move the Iowa high school state softball tournament to a double-elimination format, a change was needed in regards to the schedule.

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has put together a plan for 2026 involving the use of all five fields at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge.

Each classification will play out the tournament on one field with the championship games all being played on the same field later that week.

For 2026, that means Class 4A will be on Channel Seeds Field (which will be the site of the championship games as has been the past tradition), 3A will be on Iowa Central Field, 5A will be on Yankee Field, 1A will be on Fenway and 2A on Wrigley.

Iowa Central Field is the other main field used throughout the season and past state tournaments. Yankee Field is a turf field while both Fenway and Wrigley are the two new fields being constructed.

Games Will Remain on One Specific Field for each Class

There will be two groups for each class, as the champion from each of the four-team brackets advances to the finals. Each class will play one game on Monday with four games per diamond taking place. Five games are scheduled for Tuesday and anywhere between 3-to-5 games will be played on Wednesday to determine who advances.

For this year, 2A and 4A will have championship games on Thursday while 1A, 3A and 5A take place on Friday. That will rotate with each coming season.

Iowa remains the lone state to play the high school softball season during the summer.

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