1996 Big Ten softball tournament

1996 Big Ten
softball tournament

Teams	4
Format	Double-elimination
Finals site	Alumni Field Ann Arbor, Michigan
Champions	Michigan (2nd title)
Runner-up	Minnesota (1st title game)
Winning coach	Carol Hutchins (2nd title)

1996 Big Ten Conference softball standings

	Conf									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
No. 7 Michigan  ‍†‍‡‍y	20	–	4	–	0		.833			51	–	14	–	0		.785
No. 19 Minnesota  ‍‍‍y	17	–	6	–	0		.739			43	–	18	–	0		.705
No. 4 Iowa  ‍‍‍y	17	–	7	–	0		.708			49	–	19	–	0		.721
No. 23 Indiana  ‍‍‍y	16	–	7	–	0		.696			37	–	24	–	0		.607
Michigan State  ‍‍‍	14	–	10	–	0		.583			37	–	19	–	0		.661
Purdue  ‍‍‍	12	–	11	–	0		.522			36	–	21	–	0		.632
Northwestern  ‍‍‍	8	–	16	–	0		.333			19	–	33	–	0		.365
Ohio State  ‍‍‍	6	–	18	–	0		.250			19	–	43	–	0		.306
Penn State  ‍‍‍	5	–	18	–	0		.217			24	–	26	–	0		.480
Wisconsin  ‍‍‍	3	–	21	–	0		.125			14	–	39	–	1		.269
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 1996 Rankings from NFCA/USA Today

The 1996 Big Ten softball tournament was held at Alumni Field on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As the tournament winner, Michigan earned the Big Ten Conference's automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA Division I softball tournament. This was the second of four consecutive Big Ten softball tournaments that Michigan won from 1995–1998.

Format and seeding

The 1996 tournament was a four team double-elimination tournament. The top four teams based on conference regular season winning percentage earned invites to the tournament.

Tournament

	First round					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Michigan	3
	4	Indiana	1
						1	Michigan	3
						2	Minnesota	2
	3	Iowa	6
	2	Minnesota	8
											1	Michigan	6	—
											2	Minnesota	4	—
	3	Iowa	2
	4	Indiana	0
						3	Iowa	0
						2	Minnesota	3