SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference has announced the seeding for the 2016 SoCon Softball Championship, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro, N.C., at UNCG Softball Stadium.
Regular-season champion Samford (37-18, 15-3 SoCon) is the tournament’s top seed. The Bulldogs clinched the regular-season title by beating UNCG in the first contest of this weekend’s series, giving the program its first SoCon regular-season crown. They will enjoy a day off on Wednesday before starting tournament play on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
The first game of the double-elimination tournament, which is set for Wednesday at 10 a.m., will feature No. 4 seed UNCG (32-24, 9-9 SoCon) against No. 5 seed ETSU (20-20, 9-9 SoCon). The winner of that game will move on to face Samford on Thursday. In the two teams’ regular-season series, the Spartans took two of three from the Bucs in Johnson City, Tenn.
Second-seeded Furman (29-26, 10-8 SoCon) will meet No. 7 seed Mercer (21-33, 4-14 SoCon) in Wednesday’s 12:30 p.m. matchup. The Paladins posted a three-game sweep of the Bears a week ago in Macon, Ga.
No. 3 seed Western Carolina (33-22, 9-9 SoCon) and No. 6 seed Chattanooga (28-27, 7-11 SoCon) will wrap up Wednesday’s action at 3 p.m. The Mocs got the best of the Catamounts in their regular-season meeting, winning two of three on the road.
The three-way tie between ETSU, UNCG and Western Carolina was broken using the league’s tiebreaking procedures.
Thursday’s slate of five games will begin at 10 a.m. and eventually conclude with an 8 p.m. contest. The remaining teams will compete in three games on Friday, which are scheduled for noon, 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Saturday will feature a championship game at 1 p.m., which may be followed by a 3 p.m. contest if the early game represents the first loss of the tournament for one of the teams. ESPN3 will broadcast Saturday’s action.
All games leading up to Saturday will be broadcast on the SoCon Digital Network.
2016 SoCon Softball Championship
UNCG Softball Stadium ▪ Greensboro, N.C.
Wednesday, May 11
Game 1: No. 4 UNCG vs. No. 5 ETSU, 10 a.m., SDN
Game 2: No. 2 Furman vs. No. 7 Mercer, 12:30 p.m., SDN
Game 3: No. 3 Western Carolina vs. No. 6 Chattanooga, 3 p.m., SDN
Thursday, May 12
Game 4: Loser of Game 2 vs. Loser of Game 3, 10 a.m., SDN
Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. No. 1 Samford, 12:30 p.m., SDN
Game 6: Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3, 3 p.m., SDN
Game 7: Loser of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 4, 5:30 p.m., SDN
Game 8: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 6, 8 p.m., SDN
Friday, May 13
Game 9: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6, Noon, SDN
Game 10: Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 2:30 p.m., SDN
Game 11: Loser of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10, 5 p.m., SDN
Saturday, May 14
Game 12: Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 11, 1 p.m., ESPN3
Game 13: IF NECESSARY, 3 p.m., ESPN3
Note: All times Eastern.
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