ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum Pioneers will be the No. 7 seed in the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship. The eight-team, double-elimination tournament will begin this Thursday and run through Sunday at Byerly Park in Hartsville, South Carolina.
Tusculum (24-20) will face No. 2 seed Lenoir-Rhyne on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to Friday's 10 a.m. contest against the winner of the Newberry/Wingate game. The loser of the TC/Lenoir-Rhyne game will play on Friday in an elimination game at 10 a.m. against the loser of the Newberry/Wingate contest.
Lenoir-Rhyne claimed a share of the 2017 SAC Championship with Carson-Newman who each finished with 16-4 league records. The two teams split their two games, but C-N went 2-0 against No. 3 seed Newberry to break the tie and earn the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
Newberry finished third in the conference with a 14-6 SAC record, while Coker will be seeded fourth after posting a 13-7 league mark. Anderson lands at the No. 5 seed with their 12-8 conference record. Wingate and Tusculum finished tied for sixth place with 10-10 records, but the Bulldogs won the tiebreaker with its two-game sweep at TC on Apr. 8.
Queens and Lincoln Memorial tied for the eighth and final spot. The two teams split their series, but the Royals went 1-1 against No. 6 Wingate, while LMU was 0-2 against the Bulldogs, breaking the tie and clinching the eighth and final seed for Queens.
The Pioneers return to the SAC postseason for the first time after two-year hiatus. Tusculum and Lenoir-Rhyne have met five times in the SAC Tournament, all wins for the Bears with the last meeting coming in 2012.
Tusculum has won three of its last five games, including Saturday's doubleheader sweep at Catawba. The Pioneers will close out the regular season on Monday when they host Milligan College for a 5:30 p.m. doubleheader at Red Edmonds Field.
2017 SAC Softball Championship | Hartsville, S.C.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Game 1: No. 3 Newberry vs No. 6 Wingate, 10 a.m.
Game 2: No. 2 Lenoir-Rhyne vs No. 7 Tusculum, 12:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 1 Carson-Newman vs No. 8 Queens, 3 p.m.
Game 4: No. 4 Coker vs No. 5 Anderson, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Game 5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser (Alternate site), 10 a.m.
Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser (Alternate site), 12:30 p.m.
Game 7: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 8: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 12:30 p.m.
Game 9: Game 7 loser vs. Game 6 winner, 3 p.m.
Game 10: Game 8 loser vs. Game 5 winner, 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 12: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 13: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 5 p.m.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Game 14: Game 12 winner vs. Game 13 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 15: Game 14 winner vs. Game 14 loser, 3:30 p.m. (if necessary)
