UGA softball heads to Tallahassee Regional

From UGA Sports Communications

ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia softball team continues its 2017 campaign into the postseason, as the Bulldogs head to the Tallahassee Regional, the NCAA announced on Sunday night.

Regional action begins on Friday with Georgia (33-21) playing Ohio Valley Conference champion Jacksonville State (40-10) and will be televised on ESPN2 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Tallahassee field will also consist of host and No. 4 seed Florida State (51-6-1) and Ivy League champion Princeton (25-18), as those teams will play on Friday at 7 p.m. ET.

The schedule for the weekend continues with Saturday's games scheduled for noon, 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. ET while Sunday will be at noon and with the if-necessary game at 2:30 p.m. ET. The regional round of play features a four-team double elimination bracket.

The Bulldogs have met Jacksonville State three times in program history, holding a 2-1 mark over the Gamecocks. The teams last met a year ago with Georgia taking a 9-0 victory in Athens. Georgia is 8-6 against FSU, as the squads met in the 2016 WCWS with Georgia recording a 5-4 win while the Bulldogs won the only two meetings with Princeton back in 2002.

Georgia is making both its 16th consecutive and 16th overall NCAA postseason appearance in school history, all under head coach Lu Harris-Champer. The Bulldogs are 60-33 overall in NCAA postseason play and have advanced to Super Regionals nine times while making it to the pinnacle of college softball in the Women’s College World Series three times.

Last season, Georgia took the crown in the Athens Regional before knocking off defending national champion and No. 1 seed Florida with a pinch-hit, walk-off home run to sweep the Gainesville Super Regional on its way to Oklahoma City.

A total of 64 teams were selected to the NCAA Tournament with 32 conferences being awarded automatic qualification, while the remaining 32 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket. 

The SEC sent a record total of all 13 teams to the tournament, with eight of those teams earning one of the 16 national seeds and three earning top eight national seeds. Each of the 16 Regional winners will advance to the Super Regional round of play on May 25-28. The winner of the Tallahassee Regional is paired with the winner of the Baton Rogue Regional.

In Super Regional action, eight sites play host to a best-of-three game series with the winners earning one of eight spots in the NCAA Division I Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.

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