Tournament Central

MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama softball will be the two-seed at the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Tournament, which kicks off with first-round play at Jaguar Field on Wednesday.
 
USA (32-16) earned a bye past opening day of the event and will face the winner of No. 6 Troy/No. 7 Texas-Arlington vs. No. 3 Texas State on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. Top-seed Louisiana-Lafayette plays No. 5 Georgia Southern/No. 8 Louisiana-Monroe vs. No. 4 Georgia State at 10 a.m. Thursday.
 
The tournament will be conducted over four days utilizing both a single-elimination format as well as a double-elimination format to determine the SBC Tournament champion and recipient of the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The first day of the tournament will utilize single-elimination. Beginning on day two, the tournament will begin double-elimination.
 
South Alabama is the reigning SBC Tournament champion, and the Jags have claimed the event title in three of the last four years, advancing to an NCAA Regional final in each season.
 
No. 10 ULL handed USA a doubleheader loss to open league play on March 12-13, and the Jaguars reeled off 17 wins in the next 21 league games, including five three-game series sweeps, to claim the two-seed for this week. South Alabama and the Ragin' Cajuns have met in the league tournament final in three of the last four years.
 
USA is batting .298 this season with a .396 collective slugging percentage and .392 on-base percentage. The Jaguar pitching staff owns a 2.07 ERA – 12^th-best in the NCAA – and has held opposing batters to a.203 average.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJagua,rSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).