Women's softball made its first appearance as an official medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The competition was held at Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Final results for the softball competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics appear below.
Eight teams competed in the Olympic softball tournament, and the competition consisted of two rounds. The preliminary round followed a round robin format, where each of the teams played all the other teams once. Following this, the top four teams advanced to a page playoff system round consisting of two semifinal games, and finally the bronze and gold medal games.
<section begin=Prelim /> The top four teams advanced to the semifinal round.
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July 21
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July 22
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July 23
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July 24
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July 25
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July 26
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July 27
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The loser of the 1&2 seed game played the winner of the 3&4 seed game in the bronze medal match. The loser of the bronze medal match won the bronze medal, while the winner went on to play the winner of the 1&2 seed game for the gold medal in the gold medal match.
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Winner advanced to gold medal match. Loser won bronze medal.