Auburn and Alabama Will Host NCAA Softball Regionals
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THE FOLLOWING WERE PRESS RELEASES FROM AUBURN AND ALABAMA:
AUBURN, Ala. – Barely 24 hours after claiming its first-ever Southeastern Conference Softball Tournament title, the Auburn softball team learned that it was the No. 4 overall seed in the 2015 NCAA Softball Tournament, a program-first to add to an ever-growing list that seems to get bigger each week. Until this year, Auburn had never been a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament.
With its selection as one of the top-eight seeds in the national tournament, Auburn will host an NCAA Regional at Jane B. Moore Field which will start this Friday. If the Tigers advance through that round, they will also host the NCAA Super Regionals with a chance to go to the Women’s College World Series.
“We’re definitely excited,” Auburn head coach Clint Myers said. “The last 24 hours have proved that team believed in itself and can accomplish great things. The idea of hosting is awesome. We get to play at our field in front of our fans, who have been really good to us all year long and the girls love playing there.”
Auburn’s first opponent will be Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champion Tennessee Tech (32-26) on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Joining Auburn in the regional this weekend will be Sun Belt Tournament champion and 23rd-ranked South Alabama (38-11), which claimed the two-seed. The Jaguars will face three-seed Chattanooga (35-13) at 3 p.m. on Friday. Chattanooga comes in as the Southern Conference Tournament champion.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama softball has earned a bid to its 17th straight NCAA Tournament, slotting in as the No. 6 seed. The Tide will welcome Washington, USC Upstate and Fairfield to Tuscaloosa for three days of games beginning on Friday, May 15.
“We never take this for granted and it never gets old,” said Head Coach Patrick Murphy. “To see Alabama up on the TV make all the hard work worth it. I’m really happy with the senior class, now they’ve made the tournament all four years. This has been a really easy team to coach and I’m really excited for the postseason.”
Alabama will serve as a host for the NCAA Regional round for the 11th straight season, hosting every year since 2005. It is the 13th time overall the Tide has hosted a regional, first doing so in 2001. Alabama has made the NCAA Tournament every year since 1999, Patrick Murphy’s first year as head coach of the program.
Washington (40-16) finished with 40 wins but only went 11-11 in conference, finishing sixth in the Pac 12 this season. Alabama and Washington have met five times in program history, with the Huskies winning four of those contests. The two teams last played on March 6-7, 2009 in Tuscaloosa at the Easton Challenge. The teams have met before in the NCAA Tournament, as Washington won two games at the 2007 Seattle Super Regional.
USC Upstate (43-8) won the Atlantic Sun’s automatic bid, winning the league tournament to clinch its spot in the postseason for the third straight season. Alabama and USC Upstate have recent postseason history, as the Spartans have come to Tuscaloosa for the NCAA Regional in 2013 and 2014. Alabama won the lone game played between the teams last season en route to winning the regional round.
Fairfield (24-22) won the automatic bid for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, defeating Monmouth in the league’s tournament to capture the team’s first ever NCAA Tournament bid. This will be the first meeting between Alabama and Fairfield.
Play in Tuscaloosa will begin on Friday, May 15. Washington will play USC Upstate at 12:30 p.m. CT live on ESPNU and Alabama will play Fairfield at 3 p.m. live on the SEC Network.
