The Tusculum College softball team has earned the number four seed in this week's Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament, being held on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn.

The Pioneers finished 30-22 during the regular season and in fourth place in the league with a 14-8 record, and will open the tournament on Thursday morning against the fifth-seeded host Railsplitters (26-15, 12-8 SAC) beginning at 10 a.m. at Dorothy Neely Field.

Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial split their regular-season doubleheader on March 18 at LMU, with the Railsplitters winning the opener 5-0 and the Pioneers capturing the nightcap 5-2.

The teams also met in the opening round of last year's Food Lion SAC Tournament, with the top-seeded Pioneers edging the eighth-seeded Railsplitters by a score of 2-1.

The winner of Thursday's game will play Friday at 12:30 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's final opening-round game between top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne and eighth-seeded Catawba. The losers will meet in an elimination game Friday morning.

In other opening-round games on Thursday, third-seeded Wingate will play sixth-seeded Brevard at 12:30 and second-seeded Anderson will face seventh-seeded Carson-Newman at 3:00.

The championship game will be played Sunday afternoon, with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Lenoir-Rhyne is the four-time defending SAC Tournament champion.

Game 1: No. 4 Tusculum vs. No. 5 Lincoln Memorial, 10 a.m.
Game 2: No. 3 Wingate vs. No. 6 Brevard, 12:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 2 Anderson vs. No. 7 Carson-Newman, 3 p.m.
Game 4: No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne vs. No. 8 Catawba, 5:30 p.m.

Friday, April 25
Game 5: Gm. 1 loser vs. Gm. 4 loser, 10 a.m.
Game 6: Gm. 2 winner vs. Gm. 3 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 7: Gm. 2 loser vs. Gm. 3 loser, 12:30 p.m.
Game 8: Gm. 1 winner vs. Gm. 4 winner, 12:30 p.m.
Game 9: Gm. 7 loser vs. Gm. 5 winner, 3 p.m.
Game 10: Gm. 8 loser vs. Gm. 6 winner, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 26
Game 11: Gm. 9 winner vs. Gm. 10 winner, noon
Game 12: Gm. 7 winner vs. Gm. 8 winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 13: Gm. 11 winner vs. Gm. 12 loser, 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 27
Game 14: Championship game, 1 p.m.
Game 15: If necessary, 3:30 p.m.