No. 22 South Alabama softball will open play in the 2015 NCAA Auburn Regional on Friday against Chattanooga, marking the Jaguars’ fourth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance.
South Alabama (38-11) faces Chattanooga (35-13), the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament champion, at 3 p.m. Friday in Auburn, Ala., in the opening game of the double-elimination regional.
Regional Format
Host Auburn (49-9), the Southeastern Conference tournament champion and the nation’s No. 4-ranked team, plays Tennessee Tech at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The winners of the two Friday games meet at noon Saturday for the first spot in the regional final, with elimination games at 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to determine the other finalist.
The Auburn Regional champion advances to face the winner of the Lafayette Regional.
Rathburn, McGill Earn NFCA All-Region Honors
Two South Alabama players were named to the 2015 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I All-Region teams on Thursday. Sophomore designated player Chloe Rathburn was named to the second team, and freshman right-handed pitcher Kalen McGill earned third-team honors.
The NFCA honors players from its 10 regions with first-, second- and third-team selections, voted on by member coaches in each region. All-region honorees are eligible for the three 2015 NFCA Division I All-America teams, which will be announced May 27.
Program Background
South Alabama competes in the Sun Belt Conference and plays its home games at Jaguar Field in Mobile.
Update: Selection and Regional Field
South Alabama learned of its Auburn Regional assignment during the NCAA selection show on Sunday, May 10. The Jaguars earned the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic bid with their third conference tournament title in four years. They previously played in the Tuscaloosa Regional in 2012 and 2014 and hosted the 2013 Mobile Regional, the first NCAA regional in program history.
Chattanooga beat South Alabama 3-1 at the South Alabama Invitational on Feb. 20. The Mocs won their 13th Southern Conference Tournament title with a 3-1 win over Mercer. Tennessee Tech (32-26) won its seventh Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title with a 3-2 win over top-seeded Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Auburn won the SEC Tournament with a 6-5 extra-inning win over No. 11 Tennessee.
The Lafayette Regional, whose winner meets the Auburn Regional champion in the super regionals, includes No. 13 seed Louisiana-Lafayette (39-9), Baylor (38-14), Mississippi State (35-19) and Weber State (38-17).
All Auburn Regional games will be shown on SEC Network+ and WatchESPN. The 16 four-team regionals are double-elimination. Super regionals, best-of-three series on eight campus sites, are set for May 21-24, with the winners advancing to the Women’s College World Series.
