Sun Belt Conference Championship Central Page
2017 Sun Belt Conference Championship Bracket.pdf

NEW ORLEANS – With its doubleheader sweep of Troy on Sunday, the University of South Alabama softball team earned the fourth seed in this year's Sun Belt Conference Championships that will be held Wednesday through Saturday at the Troy Softball Complex on the campus of Troy University.

South Alabama (33-18, 15-12 SBC) will open up tournament action on Wednesday at 3 p.m. when the Jaguars take on the winner of No. 5 Texas-Arlington/No. 8 Coastal Carolina in the third game of the day on Wednesday which will begin the double elimination format of the tourney.

The Jaguars will enter the Sun Belt tournament as one of the hottest teams in the conference winners of nine-straight league games.  Entering the series at Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama sat in the eighth spot in the conference standings, but with the nine-game SBC win-streak over the last three weeks of the regular season, USA climbed up to the fourth spot.

UTA (29-24, 14-13 SBC) took two of three meetings versus South in Arlington, Texas, back on April 14-15 during the regular season.  Both of the Mavericks' wins were walk-off wins in the first two games, while Destin Vicknair recorded a one-hit 5-0 shutout win in the series finale.  UTA closed out the regular season by taking two of three versus second-seeded Texas State in Arlington.

South Alabama and Coastal Carolina (32-22, 10-16 SBC) met during the second weekend of the conference schedule with the Jaguars winning two of the three contests.  USA took games one (6-0) and three (6-1), while the Chants picked up a 2-0 win in game two.  CCU picked up a three-game sweep at home over Appalachian State in its final SBC series of the spring to move into the eighth seed.

Tournament tickets are available either in all-session ticket packages or in single-session packages.  All-session tickets are available for $30 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under.  Single-session tickets can be purchased for $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.  Fans can purchase tickets either by calling the Troy ticket office at 877-878-WINS (9467) or by visiting TroyTrojans.com/Tickets.

Parking for the event in the main softball lot will be $5, while everywhere will be free.

All games will be shown on ESPN3 and links to those contests and live stats links can be accessed at both www.USAJaguars.com and www.sunbeltsports.org.

2017 Championship Schedule
Wednesday, May 10 (Single Elimination)
G1: No. 5 Texas-Arlington vs. No. 8 Coastal Carolina (ESPN3), 10:00 a.m. CT (ESPN3)
G2: No. 6 Georgia Southern vs. No. 7 Louisiana-Monroe, 12:30 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
 
Wednesday, May 10 (Start of Double Elimination)
G3: No. 4 South Alabama vs. Winner Game 1, 3 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
G4: No. 3 Georgia State vs. Winner Game 2, 5:30 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
 
Thursday, May 11
G5: No. 1 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Winner Game 3, 10 a.m. CT (ESPN3)
G6: No. 2 Texas State vs. Winner Game 4, 12:30 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
G7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5, 3 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
G8: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 6, 5:30 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
 
Friday, May 12
G9: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 11 a.m. (ESPN3)
G10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2 p.m. (ESPN3)
G11: Loser Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m. CT (ESPN3)
 
Saturday, May 13 (Championship Game)
G12: Winner G9 vs. Winner G11, 1 p.m. (ESPN3)
 
* - All times CT and subject to change
 
2017 Championship seeds and Sun Belt records
1. Louisiana (23-1, .958)
2. Texas State (18-8, .692)
3. Georgia State (18-9, .667)
4. South Alabama (15-12, .538)
5. UTA (14-13, .519)
6. Georgia Southern (12-15, .444)
7. ULM (11-16, .407)
8. Coastal Carolina (10-16, .385)

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
    
Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear.  All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub

—USA—