ESPN Announces Exclusive Coverage of 2026 Little League Softball Region Tournaments

After record setting ratings in 2025, Little League Softball coverage expands for Region Tournaments and World Series.

Amiya Carpenter of Camden-Wyoming connects on a pitch in a game with Texas. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

ESPN announced Monday that the network will exclusively present 81 Little League Softball Region Tournament games this summer with 65 games available on ESPN+, 12 on ESPN and two on ESPN2.

The 81 games represents and increase of five games over the amount aired in 2025.

"For the second straight year, the final two days of the Regionals - featuring semifinal action and all championship matchups - will air live on ESPN and ESPN2. From Regionals through the World Series, 36 Little League Softball games will be presented across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC - the most in event history," a press release from ESPN stated.

A new feature being introduced this year, which is familiar to fans who view the NCAA Softball Regionals, ESPN will air Little League Around the Bases to present whip-around studio coverage. The show will air on ESPN+ on July 19 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and again on July 20 during the same times.

Coverage will be provided from all seven sites throughout both days.

During the 2025 Little League Softball championship game coverage, where the Mid-Atlantic Region (Pennsylvania) defeated the Central Region (Indiana), ESPN set a new viewership record with an average of 1.44 million viewers and a peak viewership of 2.98 million. The amount represented a 139 percent increase versus the 2024 championship game. The network also saw a 66 percent increase year-over-year across all games with an average viewership of 347,000.

This past Sunday's @LLSBWorldSeries Championship game was the most-watched @LittleLeague softball game EVER! 🎉

🥎 1.44M avg. viewers (2.98M peak) pic.twitter.com/2Bs9gHFqzI

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) August 12, 2025

Little League Softball Play-By-Play

• Trey Bender
• Troy Clardy
• Eric Frede
• Lowell Galindo
• Sam Gore
• Kelsie Kasper
• Casey Roehl
• Matt Schumacker
• Doug Sherman

Little League Softball Analysts

• Monica Abbott
• Faith Cain
• Danielle Lawrie
• Haylie McCleney
• Brittany McKinney
• Nicole Mendes
• Alex Powers
• Amanda Scarborough
• Ally Shipman
• Michele Smith
• Rylie West

Little League Softball Regional Locations

• Northwest, San Bernardino, Calif.
• Mid-Atlantic, Bristol, Conn.
• Central, Whitestown, Ind.
• Southeast, Warner Robbins, Ga.
• Southwest, Waco, Texas
• New England, Bristol, Conn.

The Little League games are slated to begin on Friday, July 17 and continue until July 23 with the regional winners earning a trip to the Little League Softball World Series held in Greenville, North Carolina.

The Little League Softball World Series will feature eight teams from the United States, representing the Region Tournament winners, as well as a host team from North Carolina.

Four international teams representing Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe-Africa and Latin America will participate as well. International regionals are nearly complete with Japan, Italy and Puerto Rico qualifying so far.