MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama softball is headed to the NCAA Tournament. The Jaguars, who won the Sun Belt Conference championship for the first time in program history on Saturday, were placed in the Tuscaloosa Regional during Sunday evening’s national selection show on ESPNU.
South Alabama (39-15) is the No. 3 seed in the four-team, double-elimination regional, which runs May 18-20 at Rhodes Stadium on the University of Alabama campus. The Jaguars open play against No. 2 seed Georgia Tech (36-21) at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Host Alabama, the top seed, meets No. 4 seed Tennessee-Martin (39-20) at 6 p.m. Friday.
Title Win Over No. 6 Louisiana-Lafayette
South Alabama earned the conference’s automatic bid by defeating top-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette 3-1 in the Sun Belt championship game in Boca Raton, Fla. The Ragin’ Cajuns entered the game ranked sixth nationally, and the defeat was only their fourth of the season.
The berth is the first NCAA Regional appearance for the South Alabama softball program.
Road to the Super Regionals
The Tuscaloosa Regional winner advances to an NCAA Super Regional against the winner of the Louisville Regional, which includes Louisville, Kentucky, Valparaiso and Michigan.
Georgia Tech arrives as the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament champion. Friday’s meeting will be the first between the Jaguars and the Yellow Jackets in softball.
Clark Credits the Program
South Alabama head coach Becky Clark said the regional bid reflected the work of many people across the athletic department.
“The biggest thing is how proud I am of our program,” Clark said. “There’s a lot of work that has gone into this by a lot of different people. I think one of the biggest things is what a great job they do of representing the university.”
Clark added that the athletic department emphasizes “citizenship, graduation and championships,” and said the softball team represents those values.
