MOBILE, Ala. – The second seeded University of South Alabama softball team will go head-to-head with No. 7 Louisiana-Monroe in the opening round of the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. (CT) at the FAU Softball Complex in Boca Raton, Fla.

South Alabama finished the regular season with a program-high 35-15 overall record and a 17-7 mark in conference play. On May 5, the Jaguars completed the sweep of in-state rival Troy beating the Trojans 3-2 and 5-2, respectively, at Jaguar Field.

The Jags lead the league in team pitching with a 1.92 ERA and team fielding with a .977 fielding percentage. USA’s pitching staff is paced by sophomore Hannah Campbell (19-10). Campbell has compiled a 2.00 ERA while striking out 177 batters in 188.2 innings. Freshman Farish Beard (6-2) holds an ERA of 1.00 and has thrown 67 Ks in 49 innings of work.

USA ranks third in the SBC in team batting with a .276 average. Juniors Brittany Fowler and Meghan Collins are on top hitting .338 and .328, respectively. Fowler leads the club after recording 79 total bases and 34 RBI. She has put up 50 hits including 12 doubles, a triple and five home runs. Collins holds a squad-best .562 slugging percentage and eight home runs.

The Jaguars lead the all-time series with the Warhawks 14-5 after sweeping ULM in Mobile on March 10 and March 11. South Alabama took game one 2-1 and game two 7-2 before run-ruling Louisiana-Monroe 9-1 in six innings in game three.

Overall, the Warhawks are 24-24 and 9-15 in the SBC. Most recently, ULM downed No. 5/6 Louisiana-Lafayette 4-2 in game one of the series before dropping game two 8-3 and game three 11-4 in Lafayette, La.

Haylie Wilson (13-7) has seen the most action in the circle for Louisiana-Monroe. Wilson has given up 167 hits and 80 runs in 136.1 innings. She has recorded a 3.54 ERA on the year.

As a team, the Werhawks are batting .246 with Karlie Wainwright leading the way hitting .388. Janel Salanoa follows Wainwright with a .308 batting average. Salanoa paces the team with 41 hits including six doubles, a triple and three home runs.

SBC Extra exclusive is offering live coverage of the entire tournament for only $9.95 on www.sunbeltspotd.org. SBC Extra is a broadband video channel that is the ultimate place for fans of Sun Belt member schools on the web.

Tickets will be sold at the gates and single game tickets as well as tournament passes are available. An adult tournament pass will cost $35 while youth/senior and faculty/staff passes will be $25. Adult single game tickets will be $12 and youth/senior/faculty/staff single game tickets will be $8. The Sun Belt is also offering a group rate of $5 for a single game as long as the group has 10 or more members and has given the ticket office 24 hours notice.

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).