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)
	← 1995; Softball Tournament; 1997 →;

1996 Big Ten Conference softball standings
v t e	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 ^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] ^[10] As of June 1996^[11] 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.^[12] 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