MOBILE, Ala. – The 2019 University of South Alabama softball has been finalized and was announced by Jaguar head coach Becky Clark Thursday, who is entering her 13th season at the helm.
The Jaguars will take on seven NCAA tournament participants from a season ago: Alabama, Florida State, Hofstra, Louisiana, McNeese State, Texas State and Tulsa, while also facing National Invitational Softball Championship participants Stephen F. Austin and UTA. The Crimson Tide made their 20th-staight NCAA tournament appearance last season and is the only program to appear in every Super Regional since its intro in 2005, while the Seminoles will enter the 2019 season as the reigning NCAA Champs after earning the program's first title after defeating Washington in the championship series a year ago.
"We love the challenge of playing a competitive schedule and understand that playing good teams makes you better as a club," Clark said. "We lost several impact players to graduation so it will be exciting to see which players step up and assume those roles. Competitive schedules and competitive games provide opportunities for those younger players to step up and challenge themselves. I look forward to a great year and seeing the growth of our team as a whole."
South won't have to travel much or far during the early portion of the season as the first three tournaments and 13 of the program's first 14 games are either at Jaguar Field or in Gulf Shores, Ala.
"We are looking every year to play a competitive schedule and this season is no different," Clark said. "This year's schedule is a little more fan friendly with the Sand Dollar tournament in Gulf Shores and our two home tournaments at Jaguar Field. We have some great teams coming in for both of our tournaments and I anticipate them being extremely competitive. Last season, we were on the road quite a bit so we welcome the opportunity to get back in front of our home fans."
The Jags will open the season at the Sand Dollar Classic (Feb. 8-10) with four games held at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex opening with Missouri State on the first day, and then facing Tennessee State and Louisiana Tech on day two and Western Kentucky on the final day.
After not hosting a home tournament for the first time since 2008, South will host both the Jaguar Challenge (Feb. 15-17) and the Mardi Gras Invitational (Feb. 22-24) with a midweek road game at Florida State on Feb. 20 sandwiched in between the two tournaments. The trip to Tallahassee will be the first by South since the 2012 season. The Jaguars are scheduled to take on Lipscomb, North Dakota, Tulsa and Mercer at the Jaguar Classic, and Stephen F. Austin, Illinois, Hostra and Nicholls State at the Mardi Gras Classic, facing SFA twice during the tournament.
South Alabama will open up March with eight-straight games away from Mobile beginning with four games at the Diamond 9 Citrus II Classic (March 1-2). The Jags will face Bradley both days of the tourney, as well as Purdue (March 1) and Savannah State (2). USA will them make the program's 11th trip to Tuscaloosa to face the Tide on March 5 before opening Sun Belt Conference play at UTA. The three-game league series is scheduled for March 8-10 with the Sun Belt moving to a three-day series schedule.
"This year, we changed our tournament regular season series format from the two day series and will go to a three day series with a single game played each day. This was a much needed change and I think will be good for both our fans and our student-athlete," Clark said.
The rest of March sees South with home SBC series against Texas State (15-17) and Louisiana (22-24), as well as a midweek non-conference outing at Southern Mississippi (19) and a league series at Appalachian State (29-31). The Bobcats won 43 games and captured both the regular season and conference tournament championships last season, while the Ragin' Cajuns won 41 games, including 21 Sun Belt contests, and made the program's 20th-straight NCAA tournament appearance. UL has won 15 of the last 18 regular-season league titles and 14 of the last 19 conference tournaments.
The Jaguars will open the final full month of the regular season with five games at Jaguar Field in a span of seven days: Southern Miss (April 3), Coastal Carolina (April 5-7) and Troy (April 10). USA will then have back-to-back Sun Belt road trips to Georgia State (April 12-14) and to ULM (April 18-20), before closing out the month at home versus McNeese State (April 24) and Georgia Southern (April 26-28).
South will close out the regular season on the road with the final two games of the season series versus Troy on the Trojans home field May 3 and 4. This year's Sun Belt Conference Championship will be hosted by Texas State at Bobcat Softball Stadium in San Marcos, Texas (May 8-11). South will be seeking its fourth league tournament title and first since 2015.
The NCAA tournament selection show will take place on Sunday, May 12 with the NCAA Division I Softball Championship set to begin the following weekend with 64 teams playing across 16 regional sites. The NCAA Regional (May 17-19) and NCAA Super Regional (May 23-26) rounds will be held on campus sites, while the eight Super Regional site winners will advance to the 2019 Women's College World Series which will take place on May 30-June 5 once again at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla.
SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS
- Total Games: 49 (Home: 24 / Road: 17 / Neutral: 8)
- Sun Belt Conference Games: 27 (Nine SBC Series)
- With the exception of the Troy series which is split home-and-home, the other eight conference series will move to a three-day format in 2019 for the first time in league history.
- Of the first 14 games, 13 are either in Mobile or Gulf Shores, including two home tournaments during weeks two and three of the season.
- Conferences represented during non-conference play (13): Atlantic Coast (1), American Athletic (1), Atlantic Sun (1), Big Sky (1), Big 10 (2), Colonial Athletic (1), Conference USA (3), Mid-Eastern Athletic (1), Ohio Valley (1), Southeastern (1), Southern (1), Southland (2) and the Valley (2).
- 2018 Postseason participants (9): NCAA Tournament (7), National Invitational Softball Championship (2)
- NCAA Super Regional teams (2): Alabama and Florida State
- FSU defeated Washington in the championship series at the 2018 College World Series to earn the program's first national title.
- Opponents which ended the 2018 season either ranked or receiving votes in the final USAToday/NFCA Top 25 (7): Florida State (1), Alabama (14), Louisiana (18), Hofstra (24), Texas State (25), McNeese State (RV), Tulsa (RV)
- Opponents which ended the 2018 season either ranked or receiving votes in the final ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 (6): Florida State (1), Alabama (14), Louisiana (19), Texas State (23), Hofstra (RV), Tulsa (RV)
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSout_JAGS. 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.
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