MOBILE, Ala.-The University of South Alabama softball team will host the Sun Belt Conference Championship this week (May 12-15) at Jaguar Field. The Jaguars earned the fifth seed in this year's tournament and will face fourth-seeded Florida Atlantic in its first-round game on Wednesday at 5:30 pm. Also on Monday senior pitcher Beth Pilgrim was named SBC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season.
Pilgrim (16-11) received pitcher of the week honors after leading USA to a pair of victories Saturday over the Trojans. Pilgrim went 2-0 last week, recording her fourth shutout of the season and her 18th complete game in the opener. She also fanned nine Trojans batters in the win. In Saturday's finale, Pilgrim came in and pitched 6.2 innings of scoreless relief, striking out nine batters, while allowing just three hits. The Cantonment, Fla., native finished the regular season with a 2.06 ERA, and 216 strikeouts in 173 innings of work. Pilgrim was name pitcher of the week following her school-record 20 strikeout performance in extra-innings against MTSU on March 28.
"We are excited about hosting the conference tournament," Jaguar head coach Becky Clark said. "This is a great advantage for our student-athletes to play the conference tournament on our home field and an exciting opportunity for our fans to be able to watch some great softball. We played well this weekend and I look forward to carrying that momentum in to the tournament."
The Jags (21-22, 8-10 SBC) took the No. 5 seed after concluding the regular season with a doubleheader sweep over Troy at home. The Jaguars defeated the Trojans 1-0 in the opener and picked up a 3-2 win in 11 innings in the finale.
Brittany Fowler has paced USA at the plate, hitting .346 with a team-leading totals in runs (32), hits (46). In league play, she is batting .328, and has recorded 19 hits and 10 runs.
Freshman Britany Campbell is batting .400 against SBC opponents and has crossed the plate five times and recorded 12 hits.
USA outfielder Haley Hopkins is ranked second on the Jag's single-season home record list and is one away from tying the program's all-time mark. Hopkins leads the teams in home runs (8) and RBI (29).
FAU is 21-12 on the year and 11-12 in league play. The Owls won two out of three games against the Jags earlier this season at in Boca Raton, Fla. Florida Atlantic enters the contest after splitting its doubleheader against Florida International. The Owls defeated the Golden Panthers 4-3 in the opener, but FIU snapped FAU's five-game win streak, defeating Florida Atlantic 7-5 in the finale.
The Owls are led at the plate by a pair of seniors - Blair Bodenmiller (.314) and Jessica Myers (.304). Bodenmiller has scored 24 runs and recorded 44 hits on the season, while Myers has crossed the plate 14 times and recorded 38 hits.
FAU is led in the circle by Katryn Satuffer (8-4), who has a 1.86 ERA. Taylor Fawbush (9-8) has also contributed, fanning 73 batters in 116.2 inning of work. She is also second on the team with a 1.92 ERA.
South Alabama is making its third conference tournament appearance in the program's four-year history. The top eight teams advance to the double-elimination conference tournament. Louisiana-Lafayette has won the last two conference championships and will look to defend its title this weekend. The Ragin' Cajuns have won nine of the previous 10 SBC tournaments and captured the top seed after winning their ninth regular season title with a 19-5 conference mark.
No. 3 North Texas will face No. 6 Troy at 10 a.m. to open tournament action and will be followed by a 12:30 p.m. matchup between No. 2 Florida International and No. 7 Louisiana Monroe. No. 1 ULL and No. 8 Middle Tennessee will play Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Tickets for this week's tournament are still available. Adults can purchase individual day tickets at the front gate to Jaguar Field for $7, while admission for youth (2-12) and senior citizens (55+) is $5. All Sun Belt Conference students will be admitted free with a valid student ID.
Fans unable to attend also can follow the Jaguars at the SBC Championship via the web. Live stats and the webcast can both be accessed at www.sunbeltsports.org. You can subscribe to the webcast for a one-time payment of $9.95. Saturday's championship game will be televised on CSS.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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